-By A Staff Writer
(Lanka-e-News -29.Nov.2025, 11.20 PM) Sri Lanka’s struggle against the catastrophic aftermath of Cyclone Ditwah has taken on an urgent international dimension, as the Pakistan Navy has emerged among the first foreign forces to deliver direct humanitarian assistance to the battered island nation. In a gesture underscoring regional solidarity and the enduring defence partnership between Colombo and Islamabad, Pakistan Navy Ship (PNS) SAIF—which was already docked in Colombo for the International Fleet Review 2025—has rapidly transitioned from ceremonial duties to emergency rescue support.
The ship’s unexpected but decisive pivot into a Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) platform came as torrential rains, flash floods and landslides combined to produce one of Sri Lanka’s deadliest natural disasters in recent history. With at least 159 people confirmed dead, 203 missing, and over one million people displaced, the scale of devastation has prompted urgent calls for international assistance.
PNS SAIF, a Zulfiquar-class multi-role frigate, arrived in Colombo earlier this week as part of the multinational naval gathering celebrating Sri Lanka’s evolving maritime role in the Indian Ocean. But as Cyclone Ditwah intensified and severe weather warnings spread across South Asia, Pakistan’s naval leadership instructed the crew to prepare for dual-duty capability: representing the Pakistan Navy on parade, while standing ready for immediate humanitarian deployment.
When the cyclone veered unexpectedly close to the island’s western coastline and unleashed days of unrelenting rain, SAIF’s operational versatility was swiftly put to the test.
Within hours of the storm’s landfall, the ship had:
reconfigured its logistics bays for cargo transfer,
readied its medical station to receive potential evacuees, and
coordinated with Sri Lankan disaster management officials and the tri-forces.
The Pakistan Navy spokesperson in Islamabad confirmed that the frigate was “placed on full humanitarian footing” as soon as reports of severe flooding and mass displacement reached naval headquarters.
“Pakistan Navy remains committed to standing by friendly nations in their hour of need,” the statement read, calling the relief operation “a moral imperative and an expression of long-standing regional fraternity.”
On Friday and into Saturday morning, SAIF offloaded a substantial consignment of emergency aid intended to bolster Sri Lanka’s overstretched disaster-management chain. The aid package included:
food staples, including rice, lentils and wheat flour;
Meals Ready to Eat (MREs) for use in remote, inaccessible regions;
dry rations suitable for long-term storage;
first-aid kits and emergency medical supplies;
essential equipment for clearing debris, stabilising shelters, and assisting rescue teams.
The cargo was formally handed to Sri Lankan naval and civilian authorities, who praised the Pakistan Navy’s swift response and the timing of the assistance, arriving during a critical phase when roads, bridges and community infrastructure were washed out or rendered impassable.
Officials at Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted that the support was “particularly valuable given the speed at which it was mobilised,” emphasising that countries capable of acting immediately often have the greatest impact in the first 72 hours of a natural disaster.
The Disaster Management Centre (DMC) reported that 123 Sri Lankans have lost their lives so far, a toll expected to rise as rescue teams reach remote villages buried by landslides or submerged under several feet of floodwater. Another 130 individuals remain unaccounted for, many believed to have been swept away by swollen rivers or trapped in collapsed homes.
The cyclone’s effects have been felt island-wide:
The Kelani River, a lifeline for the capital Colombo, burst its banks late Friday evening, forcing thousands from their homes.
Low-lying areas across Gampaha, Kegalle, and Kalutara have been submerged under rising floodwaters.
Landslides in Badulla and Nuwara Eliya districts have destroyed several hillside communities.
Coastal regions were struck by strong winds, storm surges and widespread blackouts.
More than 43,995 people have been moved into state-run welfare centres, where conditions are cramped and resources scarce.
The government, deploying helicopters, amphibious boats and engineering units from the army, navy and air force, acknowledged that national capacity alone cannot adequately meet the crisis. International assistance, therefore, arrives at a crucial juncture.
“This is one of the worst climate-related disasters we have faced in decades,” said DMC Director-General Sampath Kotuwegoda. “Relief operations with the help of the armed forces are underway, but the scale is overwhelming.”
Pakistan’s HADR mobilisation arrives as Sri Lanka becomes once again a focal point for regional climate diplomacy. In the past decade, both India and Pakistan—despite their geopolitical frictions—have responded to Sri Lanka’s natural disasters.
While India has launched Operation Sagar Bandhu, deploying aircraft and rescue teams across the island, Pakistan’s rapid response adds a second major South Asian military presence to the island’s relief effort.
International relations analysts note that Sri Lanka’s central location in the Indian Ocean has long made it a theatre of diplomatic competition, but in times of disaster “politics often yields to practicality.”
“Soft power is built not only through strategy, but through empathy and presence,” said Dr Arshad Iqbal, a maritime security researcher in Islamabad. “Pakistan’s rapid aid delivery will resonate deeply with the Sri Lankan public at a moment of profound trauma.”
At the same time, the presence of Pakistani and Indian military assets in close proximity—each engaged in humanitarian missions—highlights an evolving recognition that climate change, not conflict, may become the defining security challenge in South Asia.
Across Sri Lanka, the human toll is both heartbreaking and familiar: families separated, homes washed away, and livelihoods destroyed in minutes.
In the outskirts of Colombo, near the flooded banks of the Kelani River, 39-year-old Sanduni Perera described watching the water rise from ankle height to chest level within hours.
“We barely escaped,” she said, speaking from a crowded welfare centre where she and her children have been living since Friday night. “Everything happened at once—the rain, the wind, the river bursting. We lost our home.”
Emergency responders say they expect such stories to multiply as they push further into rural districts. Entire villages along riverbanks remain cut off, with some residents having survived by climbing into treetops or scrambling onto rooftops to wait for rescue boats.
In the central highlands, where landslides have wiped out plantation settlements, search teams using dogs and thermal drones continue to look for survivors under precariously unstable slopes.
“Every hour counts,” a Sri Lankan army officer said grimly. “But the terrain is treacherous.”
Sri Lanka is no stranger to climate disasters, but the scale and frequency of recent events have prompted renewed debate over national preparedness and global responsibility.
This week’s rainfall—described by meteorologists as “unprecedented in decades”—is the most destructive since the 2016 floods, which left 71 people dead. It surpasses the 2023 monsoon disaster, and is comparable in intensity only to the June 2003 floods, which killed 254 and displaced hundreds of thousands.
Environmental experts warn that Cyclone Ditwah, part of an increasingly erratic pattern of weather systems over the Indian Ocean, is a harbinger of future catastrophes.
Prof. Mahesh Herath, a climate scientist at the University of Moratuwa, stated:
“South Asia is entering an era where sea surface temperatures and atmospheric instability will produce more severe and more unpredictable cyclonic activity. Sri Lanka, with its dense population along river basins and coasts, is disproportionately vulnerable.”
For many citizens, the crisis is worsened by the island’s fragile economy—still recovering from recession and inflationary shocks. With infrastructure already stretched thin, even moderate weather events can overwhelm systems never designed for such extremes.
Pakistan’s decision to deploy humanitarian assets from a frigate anchored in Colombo demonstrates a broader shift in the Pakistan Navy’s operational doctrine.
Over the past decade, Islamabad has increasingly emphasised regional humanitarian engagement as a pillar of maritime diplomacy. The navy’s ships have participated in relief missions in Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia, often acting as first responders during flooding and cyclones.
The deployment of PNS SAIF in Sri Lanka allows Pakistan to:
strengthen bilateral relations with Colombo,
showcase its naval readiness and professionalism,
project a positive regional security role,
enhance interoperability with foreign navies ahead of Fleet Review exercises.
More importantly, it offers Pakistan an opportunity to reinforce its humanitarian credentials at a time when climate disasters have intensified across the developing world.
“This is not gunboat diplomacy. This is compassion diplomacy,” said a senior South Asian diplomat familiar with the operation. “In an era of climate insecurity, militaries increasingly play rescue roles, not combat roles.”
Recognising the severity of the situation, Sri Lanka's government has deployed all branches of the military to assist in relief operations.
The Army has mobilised engineering corps to clear roads and strengthen vulnerable riverbanks.
The Navy has deployed boats to rescue residents in submerged coastal and riverside towns.
The Air Force has used helicopters to evacuate marooned families from rooftops and landslide-prone hillsides.
However, officials acknowledge the limits of national capacity.
“We have stretched every resource we have,” said a senior defence official, “but the magnitude of the disaster requires international support.”
On Saturday, rains subsided in most parts of the island, offering a brief window for relief teams to accelerate operations. Yet clouds loomed ominously over the northern regions, which continued to experience sporadic showers.
Meteorological officials warned that residual winds and moisture from Cyclone Ditwah could trigger additional rainfall in the coming days. Floodwaters in some districts are expected to remain dangerously high.
Evacuation orders remain in place for families living:
along the Kelani River downstream of Avissawella,
near tributaries in Kegalle and Kalutara,
and across parts of the Gampaha district, where water levels continue to rise.
In welfare centres nationwide, volunteers struggle to supply enough food and clothing, as local authorities appeal urgently for international donations of tents, bedding and medicine.
While emergency rescue remains the priority, Sri Lanka now faces the daunting task of reconstruction. With homes damaged, crops destroyed and infrastructure crippled, the cyclone will leave long-term social and economic scars.
International donors—including the UN, the Red Cross, and neighbouring countries—are already assessing the scale of assistance required for the recovery phase. Analysts predict that rehabilitation efforts may take many months, if not years.
Sri Lanka's government, meanwhile, confronts the political and administrative challenges of rebuilding amid economic fragility. Calls have been growing for the creation of a robust national climate resilience strategy, one that integrates early warning systems, river management, sustainable urban planning, and international support frameworks.
For now, foreign assistance—such as Pakistan’s—is a lifeline.
The arrival of PNS SAIF’s relief supplies, though small relative to the enormity of Sri Lanka’s needs, carries symbolic weight far beyond the physical cargo. It signals reassurance during uncertain times, and reinforces the message that the region’s militaries can collaborate for peace and humanitarian purpose even amid geopolitical complexity.
As more ships and aircraft from friendly nations prepare to arrive, Sri Lanka stands at a crossroads: battered but not broken, devastated but not alone.
And in the stillness that follows the cyclone’s roar, the sight of sailors unloading food rations, medicine and survival kits from the grey hull of a Pakistani frigate offers a quiet reminder of something simple but profound: in the face of nature’s fury, solidarity remains humanity’s most powerful defence.
-By A Staff Writer
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by (2025-11-29 18:54:21)
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