Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa reached Sri Lanka on a two-day official visit on Tuesday and held meetings with the top Sri Lankan military leadership, an Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) statement said.

Visiting on an invitation from his Sri Lankan counterpart, Gen Bajwa met the chief of defence staff and chiefs of all three services.

During the meetings, the two sides discussed various new initiatives and ongoing projects to strengthen defence ties between Sri Lanka and Pakistan, read the ISPR statement.

Guard of honour was presented when the COAS visited headquarters of the Sri Lankan military, the ISPR said. Gen Bajwa interacted with the faculty and staff at the Defence Services Command and Staff College.

The Sri Lankan military leadership "expressed their gratitude and appreciation for Pakistan's unequivocal moral and material support during Sri Lanka's successful war on terror", the statement said.

During his visit, Gen Bajwa claimed that after having cleared "troubled areas from terrorists of all hues and colours", Pakistan is now cracking down on militants' "disorganised residual presence".

"Pakistan and Sri Lanka are probably the only two countries which understand what it takes to defeat the menace of terrorism," Gen Bajwa was quoted as saying.