Asia-Pacific Army Chiefs to Make Sri Lanka a Case Study

LIEUTENANT General Jagath Jayasuriya, Commander of the Army during his participation in the recent 6th Pacific Armies Chiefs’ Conference (PACC VI) in Japan held a record thirteen bilateral discussions with participating Chiefs of Armies and two representatives. 
 
The Sixth Pacific Armies Chiefs’ Conference, held in Tokyo, Japan (24-27 August) was co-hosted by the USA and Japan. It was attended by 22 Army Chiefs from Asia Pacific countries, including Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and the US.

‘The Role That Land Forces Should Play in Military Civic Cooperation in Disaster Relief and Humanitarian Assistance Operations’ was the major theme for this year’s conference. The conference covering two areas focused on conduct of multilateral sessions based on separate topics and bilateral meetings between Chiefs of Armies. The multilateral discussions were centred largely on respective regional issues, connected to Disaster Relief and Humanitarian Assistance Operations. 

In response to Lieutenant General Jayasuriya’s appeal for assistance in the broad sphere of de-mining, largely carried out by Army troops in Sri Lanka, all attending participants showed their keen interest and assured their fullest cooperation for expansion of Sri Lanka’s de-mining work in the aftermath of LTTE terrorism. The Commander further told the Army Chiefs that Sri Lanka needs post-war assistance for this de-mining work since lack of such de-mining equipment might delay the ongoing de-mining work in the Wanni, now under the full control of the government of Sri Lanka.

Adding a new dimension, many participating Army Chiefs after taking stock of the successful completion of the Wanni humanitarian operations expressed their keen interest in future military academia on Sri Lanka as a case study. They expressed their desire to send high level military groups to Sri Lanka for this purpose. Those inquisitive military chiefs also received a detailed account of the conduct of insurgency operations and the victory achieved over LTTE terrorism from the visiting Commander of the Sri Lanka Army.

During his elaborate discussions and also in response to queries, the Sri Lankan Commander pointed out the political leadership given by His Excellency, the President and the Defence Secretary contributed largely to the success of humanitarian operations that were launched to salvage trapped civilians in the Wanni. The military delegates also learnt of the roles being played by the Sri Lanka Army on resettlement of IDPs and numerous welfare projects of the Army. 

Lieutenant General Jayasuriya had also a separate round of discussions with the USA Pacific Army Commander during the conference.