Sri Lankan army team on secret mission in Pune

PUNE: A high-level team of officers from the Sri Lanka military intelligence corps (MIC) and army were brought stealthily into Pune five days ago for advanced intelligence training at Indian Army's various high-security institutions here.

The initial phase of the training at the National Defence Academy (NDA) got over on Friday. 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 secret visit comes as a precursor to the setting up of an intelligence training school in the island nation, which has been battling the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels for 25 years.

The visit assumes added significance in the backdrop of recent statements by chief of naval staff Admiral Suresh Mehta that Indian Navy and Coast Guard had shared intelligence regarding movement of LTTE Sea Tiger boats in the Palk Strait and Gulf of Mannar.

According to senior officers of directorate general of military intelligence and NDA, 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 ALPS Tillekeratne, commanding officer of the training wing, and W M Amardasa, acting director of the academic service.

"Unlike other foreign countries' delegations that visit the NDA, the Lankan trio were detailed on the entire spectrum of activities of the academy," said a senior NDA official.

Interestingly, an eight-member team of Indian MI officers led by a major general had visited Sri Lanka in August 2007 on a reconnaissance mission for setting up the school.

Source: Times Of India