Pak supplys rocket launchers to Lanka

Pak supplys rocket launchers to Lanka
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

LONDON, JUNE 28: Pakistan supplied ten multiple rocket launchers (MRLs) to Colombo last month to boost the Sri Lankan army's firepower against rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) offensive in the Jaffna peninsula, a defence weekly has reported.

Pakistan's military support came in response to a Sri Lankan plea for "emergency assistance", which was extended to several countries. The Czech Republic and China also answered with offers of MRLs, but these have yet to be delivered, the Jane's Defence Weekly said in its latest issue.

The same initiative saw Colombo move on May 4 to re-establish diplomatic relations with Israel.

This is the second time Islamabad has supplied military equipment to Sri Lanka. The then President Zia ul-Haq sent two Pakistan Air Force aircraft loaded with mortars and rocket-propelled grenade launchers to Colombo in mid-1985 as the island nation's army sought to counter the LTTE's full military campaign initiated two years earlier.

The MRLs, Sri Lanka's first fully operational weapon of this type, are produced by Pakistan Ordnance Factory. They are most likely copies of the China North Industries Corporation's 107 mm (12-round) type 63 or type 81 MRL. They were delivered together with a quantity of ammunition.

The army immediately deployed half the MRLS to the Jaffna front, with the remainder kept in reserve. The systems saw their first operational use in fighting that took place early this month around Sarasalai, in the Chavakachcheri region.