India asks Lanka to protect civilians

NEW DELHI: After A meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security to discuss Sri Lanka, foreign secretary Shiv Shankar Menon summoned Sri Lankan high commissioner to India CR Jayasinghe to express India���s ���grave concern��� on the effect of the ethnic conflict on civilians.

Sources said that Mr Menon had called in the Lankan High Commissioner to convey India���s concern on the effect of the ongoing conflict on civilians and to ask the Lankan government to stop the killing and harassment of Indian fishermen. Mr Menon further told Mr Jayasinghe that New Delhi wanted Colombo to address the concerns that have been raised by India particularly in ensuring that civilians are protected from attacks.

This was the government���s latest response to increasing pressure from the DMK to intervene in the ongoing ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka. The message to Lanka has now been conveyed at multiple levels of the government from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee to national security advisor MK Narayanan and now Mr Menon. In Colombo, Indian High Commissioner Alok Prasad called on Lankan foreign minister
Rohitha Bogollagama to discuss the developments in Lanka.

In spite of the pressure from the South allies and the almost daily resignation of Tamil MPs, the government���s policy towards Lanka has little scope for change. This was evident from the statements issued by the prime minister and the external affairs minister. In a reiteration of stated Indian policy on Sri Lanka, Mr Singh and Mr Mukherjee had asked the Lankan government to find a political negotiated settlement to the ethnic crisis instead of going for a military option. At the same time, the Indian government has also been careful to highlight that India stands for a united Sri Lanka. The government has proscribed the LTTE as a terror organisation and has been against LTTE���s attempts to split the country.

Mr Mukherjee on Thursday had said that the rights of civilians who are caught up in the conflict should be respected and that the Lankan government should ensure that food and other essential supplies reach civilian who are caught on the conflict. He had also extended Indian government help in easing the humanitarian conditions.

Even though New Delhi has forcefully expressed its concern on the humanitarian crisis, the Rajapaksa government, which has claimed that the Lankan military is winning the war against the LTTE, is in no mood to scale down its military operation against the LTTE. The Lankan side has claimed that the Tamil Tigers fighting capacity has been diminished by the military operations and that the LTTE has lost over 75% of area under its control in North Lanka.

Nevertheless, Lanka, which is well aware of the political compulsions of the UPA government, has conveyed to India that it is aware of India���s concerns and takes the prime minister���s statement seriously.