Sri Lankan Army seeks more military hardware

By V.S.Sambandan

COLOMBO, APRIL 30.Sri Lanka is ``urgently seeking'' greater supplies of military hardware, local media reports said.

The ``fast-track, multi-billion rupee'' effort comes as one of the many steps in the immediate aftermath of last weekend's fall of Elephant Pass, a crucial northern gateway garrison, in an operation in which the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam overpowered the Army with artillery power.

The SUNDAY TIMES,in a front page report today said Defence officials had begun meeting representatives of manufacturers from ``Russia, Britain, Pakistan, Iran, Czech Republic, Israel and Singapore.'' Immediately after the Elephant Pass debacle, the Sri Lanka Army Commander, Lt. Gen. Sirilal Weerasooriya, told a press conference that the Army would change its tactics through ``increased firepower''.

Apart from the indication of seeking more hardware, no details were given as to the type of weaponry.

Another Sunday newspaper, the Sunday Leader, said the debacle was due to lack of equipment.

Non-availability of transport aircraft and the non- operational status of the armour in Jaffna have been cited as among the reasons for the reversal.

India's help sought

PTI reports:

Desperate over the military reversals in the strategic Jaffna peninsula, the nationalist groups in Sri Lanka, who had opposed the presence of Indian Army during 1987-1990 in the country, are now calling for its return.

``Yes, I was strongly against the IPKF then, but considering the present situation, it is imperative that we invite the Indian Army to help halt the LTTE's advance into the Jaffna peninsula,'' Buddhist monk, Elle Gunawansa, who had led an anti-India campaign when the IPKF was deployed in Sri Lanka, told a Sinhala language weekly `Lukbima'.

Gunawansa, considered to be a protege of late President, R Premadasa, sought a full-scale Indian military involvement to prevent the LTTE's onslaught in Jaffna. Recently, the main opposition, United National Party (UNP) asked the Chandrika Kumaratunga Government to seek foreign military assistance to stop the LTTE from taking over Jaffna.

The UNP's call has fuelled speculation in the diplomatic missions here as it was the UNP Government, headed by late President J R Jayawrdene, which had invited the Indian Army under the Indo- Lanka accord in 1987 to restore peace in the north and east.

The pro UNP media here has been calling for India's assistance in the light of the Indian perception that a strong LTTE Presence in Sri Lanka's north could have a destabilising effect on Tamil Nadu and other southern states.

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Section  : International
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