Pakistan to arm Sri Lanka for final push

by admin
Aug 26, 2008

Pakistan has pledged to one shipload of the wherewithal every 10 days in coming months to help the Sri Lankan its final push to wipe out the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), according to Sri Lankan media.

“Pakistan has promised one ship-load of wherewithal every ten days in the coming months,” the Sunday Leader newspaper said in its edition dated August 17.

“And all this support is thanks largely to the personal rapport between Army Commander Sarath Fonseka and Pakistan Army’s Chief of Staff Ashfaq Pervez Kayani who had conceded to the request of Lieutenant General Fonseka at a time Sri Lanka Army was in urgent need of supplies.”

“The Pakistani General who was formerly Director of Secret Services, the Inter Services Intelligence, in a show of solidarity with General Fonseka agreed at the risk of depleting his own army's stocks to help meet Sri Lanka’s requirements since it would otherwise have taken considerable time for Pakistan's ordnance factories to manufacture the Sri Lankan requirements which were of an urgent nature,” the paper added.

However, a Taliban bomb attack outside Pakistan's main ordnance complex on Thursday, August 21 has raised concerns within the Sri Lankan defence establishment.


The attack on Wah factory in Islamabad, a heavily guarded complex, the hub of Pakistan's defence industry where about 25,000 workers produce explosives, ordnance and weapons in about 15 factories, could disrupt Pakistan’s plans to provide military supplies to Sri Lanka.

 

This is the second time Pakistan is helping Sri Lanka militarily in its hour of need. The last time it did was in 2000 when the 30,000-strong Sri Lankan army contingent in Jaffna was under an LTTE siege. At the time, Pakistan rushed Multi-Barrel Rocket Launchers (MBRLs) and ammunition to assist the besieged Sri Lankan Army.

With military analysts predicting major battles in coming weeks and months, the army needs ammunition in large quantities. Sri Lanka manufactures no arms, though it has been fighting a modern war since 1983-84. The main suppliers have been China, Pakistan, and the East European countries.

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