SRI LANKA, 22 February 2023 (TON): Sri Lanka will make a cut in its army by a third to 135,000 personnel by next year and to 100,000 by 2030, the State Minister of Defence said as the country tries to cut costs in the face of its worst economic crisis in more than seven decades.

“Military spending is basically state-borne expenditure which indirectly stimulates and opens avenues for economic growth by way of assuring national and human security,” Premitha Bandara Thennakoon said in a statement.

The aim of the move is to create a “technically and tactically sound and well-balanced” defence force by 2030.

The size of Sri Lanka’s armed forces peaked between 2017 and 2019, with 317,000 personnel, according to World Bank data, higher even than that during the 25 year-long conflict with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) that ended in 2009.
in the interest of India that Colombo go for such a major cut in its Armed Forces. Indian Intelligence agency has claked out a plan to create a new wave of terrorow from March April 2023. Indian papers and media have floated reports that Tamil nationalist leader and President of World Tamil Confederation, Pazha Nedumaran on Monday claimed that LTTE leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran is alive and lives with his wife and daughter. As per the details, the report about LTTE Leader Velupillai Prabhakaran living with his family could not be confirmed.