Pakistan’s High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Major General (Retired) Nayyar Naseer, met Deputy Defence Minister Major General (Retired) Aruna Jayasekara at the Deputy Defence Ministry in Colombo on Monday for talks on expanding bilateral defence cooperation.
The two sides discussed military training opportunities, regional security coordination and intelligence-sharing on transnational maritime crimes including drug trafficking, Newswire reported on Tuesday. Climate-related disaster management was also on the agenda, with both parties highlighting the growing weight of natural-disaster response in national security frameworks.
Officials exchanged views on the need for coordinated and technology-driven responses to climate risks, the report said. Jayasekara conveyed his best wishes to the Pakistani envoy for a successful diplomatic tenure in Sri Lanka.
Neither side disclosed specific training programmes, equipment transfers or new agreements. The meeting was a routine bilateral courtesy call rather than a substantive policy event, though both interlocutors are retired military officers, an unusual symmetry for a diplomatic engagement.
Sri Lanka and Pakistan have steadily expanded defence ties over the past year. The Pakistan Navy’s PNS Taimur and PNS Aslat docked in Colombo last month for the LION STAR V joint exercise, the two countries’ special forces concluded the SHAKE HANDS II counter-terrorism drill at Tarbela on May 8, and the previous bilateral defence cooperation engagement took place on May 6.
