Cyclone Ditwah Chaos: Army Chief's Sri Lanka Visit Put on Hold as India Ramps Up Rescue Ops

The Army chief, General Upendra Dwivedi's two-day visit to Sri Lanka has been postponed, highly-placed sources said. Cyclone Ditwah, which has led to floods all over the island, and over 350 people are

dead and many missing, is the reason. The Army chief was expected to have been in Colombo today, but the catastrophic cyclone has been the cause for the delay. Indian Navy and Indian Air Force (IAF) personnel are already dep[loyed with the former sending three warships, including the aircraft-carrier, INS Vikrant, for relief operations. The IAF has also been involved with the C-130 and the IL-76 aircraft being pressed into service as is the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF). As part of Operation Sagarbandhu, as the effort is called, huge amounts of relief have been sent to the stricken people. With several hundred people still missing, the situation remains very difficult. Indo_Sri Lankan military ties are getting better and there is already a five-year memorandum of understanding (MOU) in place. The two navies work closely together in areas like maritime surveillance and counter terrorism. Training is another area of cooperation and of course, the armies and navies of both countries have regular exercises. There have been issues, like Chinese navy ships, including "spy ships," docking into Sri Lankan ports but quiet diplomacy has led to considerable success for India.Diplomatic relations between the two countries are also strong. The Sri Lankan prime minister, Harini Amarasurya, was recently in India, the visit being widely considered very successful. The Sri Lankan President Anura Dissanayake has also been in India.