A new report released this week found that Sri Lanka is Southasia�€™s most militarised country. The Bombay-based Strategic Foresight Group (SFG), in a report titled �€œCost of Conflict in Sri Lanka�€, said that the island country has 8000 military personnel per million citizens. This is twice the amount of Pakistan �€“ commonly believed to be the region�€™s most heavily militarised society �€“ which has just 4000 militarymen for every million citizens. Other regional countries boast significantly lower numbers: 2700 for Nepal, 1300 for India and 1000 for Bangladesh. And Sri Lanka did not just come out on top only in terms of security personnel ratios. For military expenditure compared to GDP, Sri Lanka is again ranked first, at 4.1 percent, a figure that does not take into account money spent by the LTTE. This compared to 3.5 percent for Pakistan, 2.5 percent for India and Nepal, and 1.5 percent for Bangladesh. The island�€™s current military budget �€“ which was as high as 6.3 percent in 2000 �€“ was significantly higher even than other war-torn countries, including Burma, Colombia and Sudan. More worryingly, the SFG study was conducted off of figures collected from 2004-05, well before the current upsurge in violence.

http://www.himalmag.com/southasia_this_week/southasia_this_week_30.htm