Defence secretary Sanjay Mitra arrives on 2-day visit to Sri Lanka

Defence Secretary Sanjay Mitra arrived on a two-day visit to Sri Lanka on Sunday during which he will call on President Maithripala Sirisena and participate in several high level defence meetings.

Mitra, who arrived in Colombo along with six other Indian officials, will also visit the central town of Kandy and the north central town of Anuradhapura, Sri Lankan officials said.

The Defence Secretary will have bilateral defence talks in Colombo and will take part in several high level meetings.

He is scheduled to meet President Sirisena, his counterpart Hemasiri Fernando and chief of defense staff Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne, officials said.

Mitra's visit comes nearly three months after a constitutional and political crisis precipitated by Sirisena's action to sack Ranil Wickremesinghe as Prime Minister and replace him with Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The over 50-day constitutional and political impasse ended mid-December when Sirisena was directed by the Supreme Court to restore Wickremesinghe.