By Usman Ansari
ISLAMABAD — Pakistan and Sri Lanka have signed an agreement for an initial eight JF-17 Thunder multirole combat aircraft. The agreement comes amid Pakistani and Sri Lankan efforts to boost defense co-operation, and in the face of heavy Indian opposition.
The news broke late Tuesday on the second day of Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's three-day visit to Colombo. It had been widely speculated Sri Lanka would sign a deal for the JF-17 to start replacing its current fleet of Chengdu F-7, IAI Kfir and MiG-27 aircraft.
India has lobbied long and hard against the deal that has been speculated for some years now. It even reportedly offered its own HAL Tejas Light Combat Aircraft in place of the JF-17.
However, media reports citing diplomatic officials state Sri Lanka will try assuaging New Delhi's anger with warship orders from Indian shipyards.
There has been no official confirmation of the deal, though it has been widely reported.
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