The External Affairs Ministry says it has no information about the setting up of an India-Sri Lanka committee on defence comprising senior officials. Sri Lanka’s official web site on Thursday claimed that the committee was formed following the visit by a high level delegation from Colombo to New Delhi on September 3 and 4.

While admitting that the delegation visited India last week, Foreign Office spokesperson Navtej Sarna said the interaction was part of a regular exchange of visits between officials of both countries. Sri Lanka and India, he said, enjoyed extremely close relations and therefore frequently exchanged views on a wide range of issues.

India has so far not replied to a Sri Lankan request for a defence agreement, nor did it respond to a suggestion for joint patrolling of the Palk Straits to check the activities of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Although India has steered clear of an institutional mechanism for defence cooperation, it is understood to have transferred non-lethal arms such as radars to Colombo.

B. Muralidhar Reddy reports from Colombo:

Quoting “diplomatic sources,” a statement by the President’s Secretariat on Thursday said the ‘Indo-Lanka committee of high officials on defence-related matters’ was the outcome of the discussions the Sri Lankan delegation held with its counterparts in New Delhi.

However, a senior official in the Indian High Commission maintained that no new defence committee was formed. “A wide range of issues of mutual concern figured in the course of the interaction. Matters related to the ongoing defence cooperation between the two countries were part of the discussion but no new committee was constituted,” the official said.

According to the Presidential Secretariat statement, the ‘new defence committee’ consists of Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunga, Defence Secretary Gothabhaya Rajapaksa and Senior Advisor to the President Basil Rajapaksa from the Sri Lankan side, and Defence Secretary Vijay Singh, Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon and National Security Advisor M.K. Narayanan from the Indian side.

The present situation in Sri Lanka, development of the Eastern Province, and humanitarian operations in the north were among the issues discussed. A fruitful discussion was also held on combating terrorism and devolving power as a means of finding a solution to the conflict in Sri Lanka.

The Indian side reiterated New Delhi’s commitment to the island’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and expressed the hope that a solution would soon be found to the just grievances of Sri Lankan Tamils through devolution of power. The Sri Lankan side explained the steps taken by the government to expedite the work of the All Party Representative Conference for finding a lasting solution to the conflict, the Presidential Secretariat release said.

According to a senior official in the Sri Lanka Foreign Office, the visit of the delegation was essentially meant to exchange views on the security environment in the island nation, the government’s plans for holding elections to local bodies in the east, rehabilitation of the displaced and the progress on resolution of the ethnic conflict.

In a way, it could also be considered a preparatory trip ahead of the scheduled visit of President Mahinda Rajapaksa to India to take part in the leadership summit organised by an Indian media group in the second week of October, the official said. “Though it is strictly not an official visit, the occasion would provide an opportunity for Mr. Rajapaksa for exchange of views at the highest level.”

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