Pakistan Army Chief Extends Hearty Welcome to His Visiting Sri Lankan Counterpart

Formal military salutes, including a colourful Guard of Honour accorded a red carpet welcome to Lieutenant General Mahesh Senanayake, Commander of the Army, now in Pakistan on a goodwill tour when he arrived at the General Headquarters (GHQ), Rawalpindi Monday (23) afternoon at the invitation of his counterpart, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) of Pakistan Army.

Pakistan Army troops in an elegant and colour-rich Guard of Honour at the Pakistan Army Headquarters premises presented arms and extended military honours to the visiting Army Chief of Sri Lanka soon after a Guard Turn Out formally greeted him at the entrance. He received the salute from a special dais after review of the parade with the Parade Commander.

As one more important segment of the day’s itinerary, Lieutenant General Mahesh Senanayake, Commander of the Army, together with his host, honoured the memories of fallen Military Heroes of the Pakistan Armed Forces by placing a floral wreath at the war monument before he was introduced to Senior Officers of the Pakistan Army at the entrance to the COAS’ office.

At the Pakistan Army Commander’s office, General Qamar Javed Bajwa had a cordial meeting with Lieutenant General Mahesh Senanayake, his Sri Lankan counterpart covering a number of areas of bilateral defence interest and relevance.

Wide-ranging but very friendly discussions that followed between both Army Chiefs were largely centred on Sustenance of expansive bilateral defence cooperation between both organizations, Enhancement of mutual understanding and cooperation on participation in different training exercises and educative programmes, Pakistan Army’s extended contribution to Sri Lanka Army-pioneered joint exercises and different study courses, Officers’ career progression and Implementation of new curricular modules to meet with fast changing security scenarios, Inputs for infrastructure development programmes for the Institute of Peace Support Operations Training Sri Lanka (IPSOTSL) as assured during the Pakistan Army Chief’s recent visit to Sri Lanka, etc.

Both of them also took time off to share views on fast changing and prevailing global security threat concerns as well as measures, needed to be adopted for further improvement of peace prospects and strengthening and prevention of tension in regional and global developments, etc.

Lieutenant General Mahesh Senanayake, Commander of the Army acknowledged the hospitality, shown towards him with gratitude during his stay and extended his warm wishes to the prosperity of the Pakistan Army by presenting him with a symbolic memento. The gesture was reciprocated.

Lieutenant General Mahesh Senanayake’s delegation to Pakistan included Mrs Chandrika Senanayake, President, Army Seva Vanitha Unit, Brigadier Hemantha Bandara, Defence Attaché at Sri Lanka’s High Commission in Pakistan, Colonel Udaya Kumara, Military Assistant and the Commander’s Aide-De-Camp.