By NNN-APP
New Delhi : Sri Lankan High Commissioner to India C. R. Jaisinghe said his country was procuring arms from Pakistan to meet the challenge from the Tamil Tigers.
“We are facing a problem of terrorism against a democratically-elected legitimate State. In that situation, the government needs to procure equipment to resist that terrorism. So we are making the purchases,” media reports cited him as saying here
“The arms and equipment purchases are for our internal security and they are certainly not because we perceive a threat from any external power,” he said while talking to reporters.
When questioned whether Sri Lanka wanted military assistance from New Delhi, the envoy said: “we always look forward to Indian support. We have no doubt that we have the goodwill of India.”
Referring to Tamil Tigers fighting against the government in Sri Lanka, he said “they have been driven out of the eastern province. The dominating areas they hold in the northern region are shrinking in size.
So the government has been very clear that they must understand that through military means, they are not going to succeed. The window for peace and discussion with the government is always kept open.”