Both countries stress the need for ‘stronger partnership’Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan announced a $50 million defence credit line facility for Sri Lanka, even as the two countries stressed the need for “stronger partnership” in security, combating terrorism, organised crime and drug and narcotic trafficking, and intelligence-sharing. Mr. Khan’s visit to Sri Lanka is the first to be undertaken by a Head of Government, after the pandemic hit the world. Mr. Khan met with representatives of Sri Lanka’s sports fraternity, at an event where Sri Lanka’s Minister of Sports and Youth Namal Rajapaksa announced the commissioning of the ‘Imran Khan High Performance Sports Centre’ in Colombo. Earlier on Wednesday Mr. Khan held talks with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Mr. Khan also met Muslim parliamentarians on Wednesday, amid protests by Sri Lanka’s Muslim community demanding a reversal of the government’s mandatory cremations policy for Covid-19 victims.

Source: The Hindu February 24, 2021 10:29 UTC