In a sudden development, the Defence Ministry on Friday announced that Defence Minister Rajnath Singh would not be travelling to Sri Lanka on a two-day visit beginning Saturday, which it had announced earlier in the day, due to “unavoidable circumstances”. Coinciding with the visit, INS Delhi, Indian Navy’s first indigenously designed and built guided missile destroyer, arrived at Colombo on September 1.
“Due to unavoidable circumstances, the visit of Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh to Sri Lanka stands deferred to a later date. Shri Rajnath Singh remains committed to strong bilateral cooperation between India and Sri Lanka. He looks forward to visiting the island nation at the earliest possible time frame,” a Defence Ministry statement said late on Friday evening.
Earlier in the day, the Defence Ministry announced that Mr. Singh will be on a visit to Sri Lanka on September 2 and 3 during which Mr. Singh was to hold talks with President and Defence Minister of Sri Lanka Ranil Wickremesinghe and Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena. “The entire gamut of India’s defence ties with Sri Lanka will be reviewed during the meetings. The Raksha Mantri will also visit Nuwara Elia in central Sri Lanka and Trincomalee which is located in the eastern part of the country,” the Ministry had stated.
Naval ship INS Delhi, arrived on a two-day visit coinciding with the visit and the Navy said Mr. Singh is scheduled to host the President of Sri Lanka along with other prominent dignitaries on board INS Delhi on September 2. “Further, as part of India’s ‘Arogya Maitri’ initiative to provide quality medical supplies to friendly countries, the Raksha Mantri will hand over state-of-the-art medical bricks that have been indigenously developed under project BHISHM [Bharat Health Initiative for Sahyog Hita and Maitri],” the Navy said in a statement.
