Sri Lanka army turns down Indian offer of training

The Sri Lankan army said on Tuesday it had turned down an offer by India to train two Sri Lankan army officers at a new location after they had to be pulled out from a training college in southern India. The two officers who were following the Defence Services Staff Course (DSSC) in Wellington of India returned to Sri Lanka on Tuesday prematurely following stiff opposition in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu to the training given to them. Tamil Nadu political parties had wanted the two Sri Lankan officers to remove from the Wellington training center over human rights allegations raised against the Sri Lankan military over its conduct during the final stages of the war against the Tamil Tiger rebels. Army spokesman Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasooriya said that due to some security concerns the Indian government had offered to transfer the two officers from DSSC Wellington to the Higher Defence Management Course (HDMC) in the College of Defence Management in Secundrabad in Andhra Pradesh. The army spokesman said that the Sri Lankan authorities, whilst appreciating the offer, declined to accept it as it was observed that the HDMC was not in line with the initial purpose of sending the two officers for training in India. "Moreover, a higher course with an entirely different scope would neither benefit the officers nor the Sri Lankan armed forces in immediate future employment of these officers. Hence, the Sri Lankan government made a request to withdraw the two officers from DSSC course and accordingly they returned to the island this morning," he said. However he reiterated that the withdrawal does not in any way hamper the growing relationship and training partnership between the armed forces of India and Sri Lanka.