India imparts secret training to SLA

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 February 2008, 08:25 GMT]
According to a report in the 'Times of India', a high-level team from the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Sri Lanka Military Intelligence Corps (MIC) were "brought stealthily into Pune five days ago for advanced intelligence training at Indian Army's various high-security institutions." The team is expected to be briefed on advanced electronic warfare, command, control, communications and computer intelligence at the Military Intelligence Training School and Depot (MITSD), the only institution of the Indian Army which imparts training in all aspects of intelligence.

The training assumes added significance in the backdrop of recent statements by Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Sureesh Mehta that Indian Navy and Coast Guard had shared intelligence with the Sri Lanka Navy regarding movement of LTTE Sea Tiger boats in the Palk Strait and Gulf of Mannar.

The secret visit reportedly comes as a precursor to the setting up of an intelligence training school in Sri Lanka. The news report further quoted a senior Indian defence official "Unlike other foreign countries' delegations that visit the National Defence Academy, the Lankan trio were detailed on the entire spectrum of activities of the academy."

The three-member team from General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University (KDU), Colombo, is being led by Major General S.K. Balasuriya, Commandant and Vice Chancellor of the university, and include Lieutenant Colonel A.L.P.S. Tillekeratne, Commanding Officer of the Training Wing, and W.M. Amaradasa, Acting Director of the Academic Service.