The Sri Lankan Cricket team’s decision to continue the series in Pakistan amidst the security concerns after the fatal suicide attack in Islamabad was received by Pakistanis as a profound sign of camaraderie rooted in many pillars between the two states. It should be noted that the recent incident was not the only one embodying the friendship, as the strategic imperative between Sri Lanka and Pakistan, and vice versa, has been shaped by diverse factors in the post-colonial trajectories.
Although Sri Lanka carved out a foreign policy adopting the so-called “non-aligned trend,“ it could not completely turn away from the orbit of New Delhi. In particular, the relationship cemented by Mrs. Bandaranaike of Sri Lanka and Mrs. Indira Gandhi seemed to be much more candid. Yet one incident in 1971 was more than enough for Indian counterparts to realize Mrs. Bandaranaike was certainly not an ally to India, which in fact aroused Delhi’s suspicion. Colombo’s RAW activities intensified after 1971. The incident that sparked New Delhi’s ire towards Sri Lanka as an act of betrayal was Colombo’s bald decision to allow Pakistani aircraft to refuel in Sri Lanka on their way to Dhaka during the 1971 war. Indian diplomat JN Dixit later recalled Mrs. Bandaranaike’s audacity, reproachfully stating how her government was spared by Indian assistance during the 1971 civil insurrection in Sri Lanka. However, the audacious decision of Mrs. Bandaranaike, filled with her intrinsic savviness, laid a solid foundation for Islamabad’s trust in Sri Lanka, which bolstered both political and economic cooperation, in which Pakistan came to assist Sri Lanka in her time of need.
Pakistan played a decisive role in supporting Sri Lanka’s defence sector during the 1980s, especially as the island nation faced a surge in terrorism. When President Junius Richard Jayewardene sought Western military support against LTTE attacks, none of Sri Lanka’s traditional Western allies supplied arms. In contrast, as highlighted by Sri Lankan diplomat John Gunaratne in his study “Sri Lankan Indian Diplomatic Confrontation,” General Zia ul-Haq of Pakistan promptly provided military assistance to Colombo. This episode encapsulates the strategic aspects of Pakistan-Sri Lanka relations during the Jayewardene era.
In a way, it may appear to be an irony of history as Sri Lanka’s role has a tryst with some of the key events in Pakistan’s political destiny, such as the role played by Colombo in 1971. Moreover, when the coup to topple Nawaz Sharif occurred, its key architect, General Musharraf, was in Colombo as a guest of the Sri Lankan army’s 50th anniversary, and his flight was refused to land in Karachi, which hastened the end of Nawaz’s rule in Pakistan. One can briefly review Junius Richard Jayewardene’s state visit to Pakistan in 1985. In contrast to efforts made by Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike to balance both Delhi and Islamabad during her visit in 1974, a little after India’s Pokhran nuclear test, President Jayewardene’s visit was reported under the following headline: “Ganging up on Gandhi: Jayewardene visits Islamabad to strengthen ties against India “. During his visit, he often raised concerns about the issue of regional hegemony, endorsing the statements made by General Zia on New Delhi’s hegemonic ambitions. On the issue of Kashmir, an ultra-sensitive issue to Indians, President Jayewardene, before his departure, commented that his government extended unqualified support to the people of Jammu and Kashmir for their struggle for self-determination. It goes without saying that, stances of Jayewardene naturally earned the wrath of New Delhi, which intensified RAW’s shadowy support to nourish Tamil militant separatism in Sri Lanka.
Among Sri Lanka’s defence and political circles, undoubtedly, the name of General Pervez Musharraf’s memory echoes as a sacred memory attributed to his support at a crucial time in the island’s history, preventing a total military eclipse that the Sri Lankan army was witnessing at the hands of LTTE terrorists in the year 2000. Then Army Commander of Sri Lanka’s Army General Sri Lal Weersooriya later remembered this sudden generosity of Gen. Mushraff as the turning point that reversed the LTTE’s fortune from annihilating Sri Lankan forces in the North of the island. The timely arrival of two 30-barrel MBRL from Pakistan intensified the firepower of Sri Lankan forces to establish a strategic defensive line against the LTTE moving forces. And it was General Weerasooriya’s personal rapport with General Mushraff that derived from their days at PMA ( Pakistan Military Academy ) finally sealed the fate of Sri Lanka in Elephant Pass’s debacle in 2000.
It should be noted that the government of Mrs. Chandrika Bandaranaike of Sri Lanka, before this unmitigated military disaster of Elephant Pass, was cornered by the international community, leaving the government to recall all the troops stuck in the Jaffna peninsula, the northern part of the island. When the fall of Jaffna appeared to be inevitable, Colombo’s plea from Gen. Musharraf became crucial as the Pakistani leader personally provided the required Multi-Barrelled weapon by going beyond all the diplomatic protocols, which finally saved the Sri Lankan army’s honour from an unmitigated disaster. Islamabad’s unconditional military support to Sri Lanka’s armed forces continued until the end of Sri Lanka’s terrorism in 2009, proving the indomitable spirit of friendship between the two states.
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Punsara Amarasinghe is a post-doctoral researcher affiliated with Scuola Superiore Sant Anna, Pisa. He is a PhD holder in Public International Law from the Institute of Law, Politics and Development at Scuola Superiore Sant Anna (Sant Anna School for Advanced Studies) in Pisa, Italy. He holds LL.M. from the South Asian University, New Delhi, and completed his undergraduate studies in law at the Faculty of Law, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka.
He completed another master's degree in international relations from the HSE, Moscow. He has held two visiting research fellowships at the Global Legal Studies Centre at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and Sciences PO, Paris. He was affiliated with the Minerva Center for Strategic Studies at Hebrew University, Jerusalem for a brief period in 2019.