14-day India- Lanka joint military drill begins in Pune

Months after India and Sri Lanka agreed to increase the complexity of bilateral military exercises, the troops from the two sides began the joint exercise ‘Mitra Shakti’ on Thursday at the Foreign Training Node in Pune, said a report published by the Indian Express yesterday.

Its aim is to promote close relations between armies of both countries and enhance interoperability and sharing of best practices in counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism (CI-CT) operations. The 14-day exercise is set to conclude on November 29.

‘Mitra Shakti’ which means ‘power of friendship’ is conducted under the United Nations’ (UN) mandate as both armies contribute to the UN Peacekeeping Forces deployed in the troubled areas across the world.

The previous edition of Mitra Shakti was conducted in Sri Lanka in October 2021. India and Sri Lanka reviewed the defence cooperation activities between the two countries at the seventh annual defence dialogue held in New Delhi in February.

During the meeting, Defence Secretary Giridhar Aramane and his Sri Lankan counterpart General Kamal Gunaratne agreed to increase the complexity of bilateral exercises and reaffirmed their commitment to avail maximum benefits from each other’s experience and capacities.

An Army officer said that the UN mandate necessitates high levels of interoperability and cohesion among armies to be able to execute joint operations in the CI-CT domain.

“Situations often demand that operations are conducted jointly with contingents from other countries. Exercises such as Mitra Shakti not just give confidence to troops on conducting joint operations, establishing Standard Operating Procedures but also help understand each others’ best practices,” he said.

The Foreign Training Node located at the military station in Aundh, Pune, has emerged as a preferred location for holding bilateral and multilateral military exercises and the Southern Command in Pune has played an important role in their execution.Pune not only has the presence of several military establishments but also conducive weather conditions for the conduct of such exercises, officials said.