The Defence Ministry on Monday struck down the
objection of the Tamil Nadu government against training of the Sri
Lankan defence personnel at Defence Staff Services College in
Wellington.
The decision of the
Ministry has come close on the heels of the shifting of Sri Lankan air
force personnel from Tambaram to Bangalore in Karnataka following
objections by the J Jayalalitha government in Tamil Nadu.
Assuring
that the objections of the Tamil Nadu government’s objection has been
considered, Minister of State of Defence MM Pallam Raju said: "Sri Lanka
is a friendly foreign country and the training will go on. Sometimes
there are objections raised by local governments which we have to take
into consideration," Raju told reporters in the capital.
Recently
Jayalalitha wrote a letter to the Prime Minister against allowing two
Sri Lankan officers Major Dissanayaka Mohottalalage Vengra and Captain
Hewawasam Kadaudage to undertake 11 months training at Wellington.
Calling it “reprehensible attitude” of the Centre, the Tamil Nadu Chief
Minister had sought immediate halting of the Sri Lankan officers’
training.
In her letter,
Jayalalitha also accused the centre of “excessive enthusiasm” in
relocating nine Sri Lankan air force personnel to Bangalore from the air
force station at Tambaram in Tamil Nadu, after earlier protests from
the state government. She said that the centre should have sent back
those personnel back to Sri Lanka.
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