Into the Top Ten?

An SL Army soldier moves in on Palampeddi village, in north western Mannar, soon after its capture in July 2008. -- Image by © Stringer/Reuters/Corbis

I had mixed feelings when I read the following statistics. It was like walking into a Lambo showroom and asking for the specs of a Murcielago, knowing what my annual salary is. The SL Army’s current strength is around 200,000. That’s almost double the size of the British Army (109,000), and larger than most western European armies. Gen Sarath Fonseka says he wants to increase the troop strength to 300,000. That’ll make the SL Army the tenth largest in the world! It’ll be a quarter the size of the Indian Army (approximately 1.2 million). India has a population of roughly 1.2 billion, while ours is just under 20 million. The next largest armies from ours will be Russia and Iran, with only 20,000 soldiers more than us. This will be the Top Ten:

1. China – 1,700,000
2. India – 1,200,000
3. North Korea – 900,000
4. South Korea – 560,000
5. Pakistan – 520,000
6. United States – 475,000
7. Myanmar – 325,000
8. Russia – 320,000
9. Iran – 320,000
10. Sri Lanka – 300,000

The combined armies of SL, Pakistan, and Bangladesh will equal the strength of the Indian Army. The Indian nuclear power stations at Kalpakkam, south of Chennai, are two hours flying time by SLAF MiG-27s based at Anuradhapura. The two new stations being built at Kudankulam, west of Nagarcoil, can be reached in less than an hour.

It is credible that with the proposed expansion of Sri Lanka’s Exclusive Economic Zone, the SL Navy will have to be beefed up, as will the SLAF. An overall Armed Forces strength of at least 500,000 is quite possible. 2.5% of Sri Lanka’s population will be under arms.

I know it’s nuts. I know it’s impractical. I know we can’t really afford it. But, dammit, doesn’t it look good?