§ Mr. Corbynasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if the Government have received a request for troops or military assistance from the Government of Sri Lanka.
§ Mr. WhitneyNo request for troops has been received. As my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister indicated to the hon. Member for Falkirk, West (Mr. Canavan) on 8 December—[Vol. 50, c.220]—Sri Lanka has in the past received a small amount of military assistance in the form of various training courses in Britain for individual officers on the same basis as officers from other Commonwealth and friendly countries.
§ Mr. Corbynasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if there has been any agreement with the Government of Sri Lanka to provide that country with military assistance or troops.
§ Mr. WhitneyThe only such agreement is the 1947 United Kingdom-Ceylon defence agreement which made provision for such military assistance to be given by the Government of either country for the security of their territories, for defence against external aggression and for the protection of essential communications as it may be in their mutual interest to provide.