Reports: Pak pilots carry out all 3,000 missions in eelam war

SLAF Air Chief Marshal Roshan Goonetilike Sunday denied Pakistani media reports that some of the missions against the LTTE had been carried out by Pakistan Air Force pilots.

"There is absolutely no truth in this claim," Goonetilike told The Island Sunday. Responding to our queries, he said that during Eelam war IV the SLAF had conducted over 3,000 missions against some 1,900 targets in the northern and eastern theatres over the past three years.

He said that three jet squadrons comprising Kfirs, MiG 27s and F7s and the No 9 attack helicopter squadron of Mi 24s had played a critical role in the war. He said that Pakistan was one of the few countries which backed Sri Lanka’s war against the LTTE. "There is no dispute over Islamabad’s wholehearted backing but we never sought their pilots," he said.


Foreign pilots had flown missions during previous phases of the Eelam war. At least one Russian pilot died in an LTTE missile attack directed at a Mi 24 helicopter gunship.

Military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara told The Island that there was no truth in reports that Sri Lanka had acquired 22 Al Khalid main battle tanks built in Pakistan. He said that the army had acquired only Czechoslovakian built T-55 main battle tanks apart from Chinese and Russian armoured fighting vehicles and armoured personnel carriers.

According to Pakistan media reports, Al Khalid had played a critical role in the war against the LTTE.

A spokesman for the Armoured Corps told The Island that all they had acquired to fight the LTTE would be displayed on Wednesday (June 3) at a joint armed forces parade at Galle Face to mark the end of 30-year war. "I can assure you that there will be no Al Khalids," he said.

Military sources said that Pakistan had even released a range of ammunition from its own stocks to Sri Lanka. A large group of Sri Lankan officers had also received training in Pakistan. The sources said that Sri Lanka had received MBRLs (multi barrel rocket launchers) from Pakistan during the year 2000 battle for Jaffna.

Sources dismissed reports that Pakistan armed forces officers had been involved in planning Sri Lanka’s successful war against the LTTE.

India had radar operators on a permanent basis to run stations at Palavi, Vavuniya, China Bay and Katunayake, while Chinese personnel had periodically visited the radar station at Mirigama set up by China, sources said.