Defence committee: India denies claim

India’s Foreign Ministry declared yesterday that it had no information about the setting up on an India-Sri Lanka Committee on defence as announced by the President’s office in Colombo.

Indian Foreign Office spokesperson Navtej Sarna was quoted in the ‘Hindu’ newspaper yesterday as saying the recent meeting between officials of the two countries “was part of a regular exchange of visits between officials of both countries”. Indian High Commission spokesman Dinkar Asthana said he could not immediately confirm the report, but said Mr. Sarna’s statements reflected the government position.

The comments came after the President’s Office in Colombo said that an an Indo-Lanka committee of high officials on defence related matters was established following the visit of a high level delegation to New Delhi.

The President’s Office said Presidential Secretary Lalith Weeratunga, Defence Secretary Gothabhaya Rajapaksa and Senior Presidential Advisor Basil Rajapaksa would be representing Sri Lanka on the committee while India would be represented by Defence Secretary Shri Vijay Singh, External Affairs Secretary Shivshankar Menon and National Security Advisor M.K. Narayanan.