{"id":55038,"date":"2016-05-27T20:20:49","date_gmt":"2016-05-28T02:20:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=55038"},"modified":"2016-05-27T13:00:54","modified_gmt":"2016-05-27T20:00:54","slug":"praising-the-armed-forces-of-sri-lanka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2016\/05\/27\/praising-the-armed-forces-of-sri-lanka\/","title":{"rendered":"PRAISING THE ARMED FORCES OF SRI LANKA"},"content":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

The armed forces of Sri Lanka have received much praise for their victory in Eelam War IV. Army commander, Lieutenant General Ratnayake observed \u2018Armed forces around the world are talking of our victory.\u2019 Foreign military officers who attended the\u00a0 seminar \u2018Defeating terrorism, Sri Lanka experience\u2019 in 2012,\u00a0 said that Sri Lanka armed forces were among the best in the world considering the strategies they had used in Eelam war IV and the way they handled the humanitarian operation.\u00a0 The Pakistan media (2013) spoke of \u2018Lanka\u2019s amazing low cost war\u2019 noting that\u00a0\u00a0 Sri Lanka had only spent USD 5.5 billion between 2006 and 2009 to defeat the LTTE.<\/p>\n

Requests came in from abroad for training in the strategies used against the LTTE, including small team operations. Manuals used by the army were translated from Sinhala into English and course material incorporating Eelam war tactics prepared.\u00a0 Many countries have requested training from us, said the Army Commander. \u00a0\u2018We have visited many countries and told them our methods of winning. Our officers regularly\u00a0\u00a0 take part in various military conferences in the world, and the Sri Lanka army had become a regular invitee for these conferences.\u00a0 The army was also consulted by local and international civilian and business organizations.<\/p>\n

The joint \u2018War Gaming centre\u2019 at the Defence Services Command and Staff College, Sapugaskanda provided training\u00a0\u00a0 for local and foreign personnel. The 2014 course had 101 middle grade officers from Sri Lanka and 16 from Bangladesh, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, Rwanda, Senegal and Vietnam. The newspapers carried a photo of this group examining a large map of Vanni west and Gulf of Mannar.\u00a0 In 2015, there were\u00a0\u00a0 participants from Australia, India, Singapore, Sudan and Turkey as well.<\/p>\n

There is also the Sri Lanka army field training exercise, \u2018Cormorant strike\u2019 from 2000. This is a mock field training exercise designed for joint special operations working as one team. It was conducted at Kokilai in 2015.\u00a0 It was a mega exercise with commandos and Special Forces of the army, 245 sailors and 140 airmen. There were 53 foreign participants and observers from Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan and USA.<\/p>\n

The Ministry of Defence has\u00a0\u00a0 held an annual Defence seminar from 2001. Participation has increased from 11 countries at the first seminar to 35 in 2013. The first\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 seminar was to share with the world our expertise what we did and how we succeeded, said the Ministry. The fifth Defence seminar, 2015 was to make the world understand that we are a professional military. It is a disciplined armed force. We discharge our duties professionally and our officers and men are as good as any professional army in the world.\u00a0<\/u><\/p>\n

The military had developed specialized hardware for the war and this hardware was offered for sale to other countries.\u00a0 The hardware includes modified weapons, bulletproof jackets, security items for bulletproof vehicles and a mini UAV that could be used for monitoring security at public events. The army engineering unit had also manufactured five armored personnel vehicles (buffels) similar to those obtained from abroad.\u00a0 Nigeria came to Sri Lanka to explore the possibility of buying small fast attack craft from Sri Lanka Navy.<\/p>\n

The Sri Lanka navy carried out a strenuous role throughout the thirty year war. It is the only navy that has managed to sustain a sea supply route through hostile territory for almost 20 years. It had somehow managed to keep a sea route from Trincomalee to Kankesanturai open from 1990 to 2009. \u00a0To protect a single Trincomalee – Kankesanturai run they had to send several offshore patrol vessels, one fast gun boat, 20 fast attack craft, 22 arrow boats, two inshore patrol craft, one Mi 24 helicopter gunship and one Beach craft. Artillery along the coast was placed on alert to provide gun fire support in case of an attack. The Navy also protected the port of Colombo. They set up navy camps from Panadura to Negombo. Small boat teams prevented LTTE from reopening the supply lines once the LTTE armament ships were sunk.<\/p>\n

The navy built its own fast attack craft at Welisara, the \u2018arrow\u2019 and \u2018wave rider\u2019 boats. They also built their own\u00a0\u00a0 version of the Israeli Dvora at Colombo Dockyard. Four variants of the Dvora were produced, known today as the \u2018Colombo Class\u2019. Bushmaster guns were fitted to the Dvora by navy engineers, so the navy only had to pay for the guns. After the war, the navy built inshore patrol craft for Sri Lanka coast guards. The navy has also developed local Thalassaemia infusion pumps, costing much less than the imported version.<\/p>\n

The navy had impressed the US Navy well before they won the war. In 2008, the US Navy delegation had visited Sri Lanka to see how the Sri Lanka Navy dealt with the LTTE navy, especially their high powered navy boats. The US invited two of Sri Lanka top navy officers, Travis Sinniah and Y.N.Jayaratna to address the US officers abroad.<\/p>\n

Sri Lanka Navy is now internationally recognized.\u00a0 Navy Commander was invited to speak at US Biennial sea power symposium and Langkawi International Maritime Conference, 2009. He said that Sri Lanka navy is the only navy today that has experienced the maritime terrorist threat in every form and learnt it the hard way at the expense of good men. The navy can now fight suicide craft, swarm attacks, semi submersible vessels, and low profile high speed explosives laden craft in fluid jet skis. It can deal with deceptive suicide fishing craft and the suicide underwater saboteur.<\/p>\n

In 2010 Vice Admiral Thisara Samarasinghe said \u2018Sri Lanka navy is today consulted on sea piracy, \u00a0harbor protection and coastal defense.\u00a0 Personnel from 12 countries, including America, India, Pakistan and Australia were given training in 2012. Sri Lanka Navy stated in 2013 \u2018we take credit for maintaining peace in our region. Even during the conflict we did not allow the terrorists to hold world shipping to ransom. We kept our ports safe for maritime trade. The Sri Lanka Navy has held, from 2010, an international maritime conference called \u2018Galle dialogue\u2019. It has become an important event in the international maritime conference circuit, with a tremendous increase in participation from foreign countries. Representatives from 39 countries attended in 2014.<\/p>\n

Air Marshal Roshan Goonatileke said that the\u00a0\u00a0 Sri Lanka\u2019s air force was also now recognized. It had achieved tremendous success by using its limited facilities well.\u00a0\u00a0 The Air Tigers were destroyed within two years.\u00a0 Aircraft were used in ways not tried before. \u00a0MiGs were used for the first time in warfare at low level and high speed. The fighter squadron carried out thousand of sorties and executed target killings, notably Thamilchelvam. His hide out was in a built up area, and it was extremely difficult, but the pilots scored direct hits.\u00a0 They also tried to get Prabhakaran.<\/p>\n

There was opposition. The media heavily condemned the purchase of second-hand MiG-27<\/a> jet fighters from Ukraine<\/a>. They said these fighters were not necessary and the authorities were getting a cut on it. Gotabhaya Rajapakse took legal action against the newspaper concerned and refused to settle the matter outside court. The MiG fighters performed precision bombings successfully. None of them failed or crashed under operational conditions unlike previous purchases.<\/p>\n

Sri Lanka\u2019s mine clearance programme is considered the most efficient in the world. It has taken the shortest period of time on record. Over 770,000 devices were recovered, \u00a0within two years, \u00a0from an estimated 6,215 square kilometer of mined land.\u00a0 Vietnam and Cambodia are still at it. The Sri Lanka army is also\u00a0\u00a0 the only army in the world that has cleared landmines without causing any damages to the clearer. Marshal Legacy Institute, USA selected Sri Lanka army sapper D.K.N. Rohan and mine detection dog \u2018Spartacus\u2019 as the best mine detection team for 2012.\u00a0\u00a0 They said the two had excelled in all aspects of mine clearance.<\/p>\n

The local court of inquiry that looked into the charges against the army (2013) said\u00a0\u00a0 that the humanitarian operation was conducted strictly in accordance with the policy of \u2018zero civilian casualties.\u2019\u00a0 The army was a well disciplined military force.\u00a0 It had observed international humanitarian law and the law of war at all stages of the operation. All precautions to avoid civilian casualties were followed and the \u2018hostages\u2019 were treated humanely. Sri Lanka College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists held a press briefing in 2012. \u2018A special medical team was deployed in the war areas\u2019 they said \u2018and this team saw the real situation. We want to tell the world that no war crimes were committed and victims were cared for with utmost compassion by the government. We state that no human rights were violated, no war victim was abandoned during the humanitarian operation.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018We are being asked how we created a humane soldier\u2019 said Army Commander Ratnayake. \u2019 It is not military training. It is our culture. In battle, you see the worst and best sides of a person.\u00a0 Our soldiers are well balanced. They can fight battles of high intensity and then turn to gently helping the elderly or feeble.\u2019 He concluded \u2018I do not think this is possible for the western soldier, our soldiers are unique in that respect.\u2019\u00a0 This is rare praise for Sri Lanka\u2019s\u00a0\u00a0 much maligned Buddhist culture. The soldiers were overwhelmingly Buddhist.<\/p>\n

The armed forces did not forget the disabled soldiers. There are two progressive apparel factories, Ranaviru Apparels, run entirely by disabled soldiers at Yakkala and Alawwa. Half of the10 acre block of land at Yakkala was donated by owner Meric Peiris. Ranaviru apparels\u00a0\u00a0 provide 60% of the army uniforms and was preparing to enter the international export market. Factory is also producing folding mattresses for the army, and other item like track kits.<\/p>\n

The army has also engaged fairly successfully, in rehabilitating LTTE ex-combatants. Their strategies are being used as a model in some other countries. 594 child soldiers aged 12-18 were among those who ran towards the army in 2009. All of them have been through rehabilitation programmes and reunited with their families.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS The armed forces of Sri Lanka have received much praise for their victory in Eelam War IV. Army commander, Lieutenant General Ratnayake observed \u2018Armed forces around the world are talking of our victory.\u2019 Foreign military officers who attended the\u00a0 seminar \u2018Defeating terrorism, Sri Lanka experience\u2019 in 2012,\u00a0 said that Sri Lanka armed forces […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kamalika-pieris"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55038\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}