By Shamindra Ferdinando | The Island
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In an interview with The Island on Sunday (Dec. 12), Defence Secretary Rajapaksa said that their presence at the SLN’s 60th anniversary celebrations had meant international recognition and appreciation of Sri Lanka’s victory over the LTTE.
The Defence Secretary said of the five permanent Security Council members, Russia (Udaloy-class Destroyer Admiral Vinogrado) and China (Missile Destroyer Lanzhou) had sent warships. The US, UK and France, too, had sent senior-level naval delegations, the Defence Secretary said, adding "the country wouldn’t have attracted the ‘big’ five if we had still been at war. In fact, many countries would have been reluctant to send warships had we been bogged down on the northern front."
The LTTE collapsed on May 19, last year on the banks of the Nanthikadal lagoon after a three-year-long non-stop combined security forces offensive.
The Defence Secretary said the world had expressed solidarity with Sri Lanka amidst a treacherous bid to charge the political and military leadership with war crimes over the conduct of the SLA during the last phase of the offensive. Responding to a query, the former Gajaba veteran said that their participation would never have been possible without approval at the highest level of the respective governments.
India sent its Navy Chief Admiral Nirmal Warma, though Indian service chiefs never visit the same country twice in one year. Appreciating the India Navy Chief’s presence, the Defence Secretary said that the attendance of the Pakistani Navy Chief Admiral Noman Bashir was an honour.
The Indian and Pakistan naval chiefs had an opportunity to meet in Colombo.
The Defence Secretary said that almost all visiting delegations had appreciated Sri Lanka’s victory over terrorism. Whatever the unsubstantiated criticism directed at the Sri Lankan military, the world couldn’t ignore the country’s success in anti-terrorist war.
The Russian and Chinese warships were joined by PNS Zulfiqar, INS Mysore, BNS Umar Farooq, HMTS Chonburi, IRID Alvand and sail ship INS Tarangini.
Navy headquarters spokesman Captain Athula Senarath said that naval chiefs from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Iran, Australia and the Maldivian Coast Guard commander had been present along with high-level delegations from Russia, US, China, UK, France, Canada, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Nigeria, the Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea and UAE
Defence Secretary Rajapaksa said that there couldn’t have been a better example than the Colombo gathering to highlight the need for international cooperation to fight cross-border terrorism.
The SLN destroyed eight LTTE ships in four separate confrontations on the high seas in 2006 and 2007. The SLN deployed Indian and US Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs), Israeli Fast Missile Vessels (FMVs) and the Chinese Landing Ship Tank (LST) to hunt down LTTE ships. In the absence of ships with capacity to refuel the fleet, the SLN used a vessel received from France (521) following tsunami and craft (521) allegedly used for human smuggling operations to re-fuel ships. The US went to the extent of providing intelligence to the SLN to destroy four of the eight vessels, including the largest.
The Defence Secretary said that on-going naval operations directed at Somali pirates by powerful navies underscored the need for cooperation among UN member states to fight those threaten world stability.
© The Island
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