The Indian High Commission organised an event in Colombo last week where it showcased weapons for sale to senior Sri Lankan officials, including those accused of war crimes.
A seminar under the theme of “Identifying New Opportunities and Forging New Bonds” was held with the aim to reportedly “explore avenues for collaboration in defence production”.
In attendance were High Commissioner of India, Santosh Jha, and an Indian delegation led by Shri Anurag Bajpai, Additional Secretary (Defence Production), from the Ministry of Defence, India. representatives from Indian Defence companies including Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, Bharat Electronics Limited, Zen Technologies, SSS Defence, Bharat Forge, Big Bang Boom Solutions, AWEL, AVNL, Mahindra Defence, Sager Defence, and TATA Advances System Ltd were also present.
Senior Sri Lankan officials, some of whom were involved of war crimes and genocide were also in attendance, including senior officers from the Sri Lankan armed forces, police and Special Task Force, as well as former army chief Shavendra Silva and Sri Lanka’s State Minister of Defence, Premitha Bandara Tennakoon.
Amongst the items highlighted were unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), latest drones, and latest earth movers.
For decades India has helped armed the Sri Lankan state as it sought to crush the Tamil independence movement. India provided weapons, intelligence and training to the Sri Lankan military and continues to undertake joint exercises despite the killing of tens of thousands of Tamils.
Tennakoon said “the procurement of cost-effective and tailor-made products from India in the last decade had helped protect Sri Lanka’s sovereignty and territorial integrity”. He claimed that “collaboration and joint R&D with Indian defence industries would lead to the country’s economic revival.” “Innovations in artificial intelligence, cyber security, unmanned systems, and space technologies have revolutionized the way we perceive defence and security.”
A similar seminar cum exhibition was previously conducted by India in Colombo last year.
“Sri Lanka Armed forces have been successfully operating a range of Indian defence equipment like L-70 guns, Indra Radar, Offshore Patrol Vessels and Army training simulators,” the Indian High Commission said. “More recently the GoI (government of India) has committed supply of Floating Dock, Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre and Dornier aircraft which would ensure capacity building of Sri Lanka Armed Forces.”
Jha reportedly “emphasised that because of geography, the security of India and Sri Lanka is interlinked and intertwined,” the Indian High Commission added. “India’s defence exports today stand at nearly 2.6 billion US Dollars, a ten-fold increase over the past five years. High Commissioner stated that the seminar was another platform to explore ways of extending India’s increasing capabilities in the defence sector to Sri Lanka.”
Sri Lanka’s interest in Indian weaponry comes despite Tennakoon stating last year said there were plans to cut down on the size of the army and on military spending.
Sri Lanka's military budget revealed last November vastly outstrips spending in other sectors. In the 2023 budget, the Ranil Wickremesinghe government allocated $1.45 billion (539 billion Sri Lankan rupees) as the cumulative budget for the Ministry of Defense and Public Security. The Ministry of Defense received $1.108 billion while the Ministry of Public Security received $350 million.
The Sri Lankan army continues to be one of the largest militaries in the world per capita and occupies vast swathes of land across the Tamil homeland.
