Indian contingent of 120 army personnel arrive in Sri Lanka for 12-day military exercise
COLOMBO – A contingent of 120 personnel of the Indian Army arrived in Sri Lanka on Saturday (2) to participate in the 8th edition of Mitra Shakti, the annual joint military exercise with the Sri Lanka Army.
The 12-day exercise, aimed at re-engaging at diplomatic and political levels, will be conducted at the Combat Training School, Ampara, beginning Monday (4) and continue till October 15.
“The aim of the exercise is to promote close relations between armies of both countries and enhance inter-operability and sharing best practices in counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism operations,” a statement by the Indian Ministry of Defence said, elaborating that the exercise will involve tactical level operations at the sub-unit level in an international counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism environment and will go a long way in further strengthening the relationship between both the South Asian nations, the statement read, adding that that will also act as a catalyst in bringing synergy and cooperation at the grass-root level between both armies.
The seventh edition of Exercise Mitra Shakti was conducted at Foreign Training Node (FTN) in Maharashtra, India in 2019, with the participation of a contingent from the Kumaon Regiment of the Indian Army and the Gemunu Watch infantry regiment of Sri Lanka.
The contingents had received lessons in perception management and information warfare, human rights and humanitarian law, along with the counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism (CI-CT) operations in urban and rural environments.
The 8th edition, scheduled to be conducted in Sri Lanka was postponed to 2021 owing to the coronavirus pandemic.
According to India defence officials, the exercise is also important from the defence diplomacy point of view considering the dynamics in the Indian Ocean region.
-ENCL