Indian Army Chief meets Lankan Counterpart

Military salutes, including a Guard of Honour and a Guard Turnout formally saluted General Dalbir Singh, the 26th Chief of the Army Staff of the Indian Army yesterday at the Army Headquarters, when he called on Army Commander Lieutenant General Crishanthe de Silva.

General Singh’s participation in the’Operation Pawan’ of the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) in 1987, is regarded as one of the defining moments of his 40 year career in the Indian Army.

During the meeting General Dalbir Singh and Lieutenant General Crishanthe de Silva recalled the historic relations between the two nations and memories during the 1987 deployment of IPKF as Peace keeping Force in Sri Lanka

The military chiefs shared views on current issues in the region and stressed the need to resolve them in an amicable manner with exchange of vital information, etc. General Dalbir Singh highlighted the importance of modernizing the Sri Lanka Army to suit international standards to be geared to meet with different types of emerging threats, including cyber attacks, etc. Lieutenant General Crishanthe de Silva in turn appreciated such assistance and requested the Indian Army to explore possibilities of new areas of training.

Talks also focused on ongoing training modules relevant to the two organisations. The visiting Army Chief assured support to continue training programmes, spearheaded by the Sri Lanka Army. The duo agreed to broaden those horizons in the near future. While expressing willingness to further foster friendly defence ties with Sri Lanka, Singh also offered his Army’s technical assistance to upgrade military requirements in the Sri Lanka Army.