Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa was “receptive” to India’s concerns about the civilians trapped in the no-fire zone, National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan said here on Friday after returning from Colombo along with Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon.
The two senior officials were sent to Colombo on the directions of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to articulate the Indian viewpoint on the crisis triggered by the fighting between the Sri Lankan forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in an area in northern Sri Lanka, where civilians have been trapped.
In a statement, Mr. Narayanan said they had conveyed the concerns of the Government of India at the evolving situation in the north, especially over the casualties among Tamil civilians as a result of the ongoing operations.
“We also expressed the Government of India’s concerns about the humanitarian situation as a result of nearly hundred thousand Tamil civilians coming out of the conflict zone since early this week. The President of Sri Lanka was receptive to our concerns. We are hopeful of a positive outcome,” he said.
Sources said Mr. Narayanan and Mr. Menon had a 90-minute meeting with Mr. Rajapaksa at his official residence. They arrived in Colombo by a special aircraft and were flown by helicopter to the President’s residence. Sri Lanka described the meeting as “very cordial,” while there was no word from the Indian side.
Meanwhile, the second consignment of humanitarian relief sent by India will reach Sri Lanka on Saturday morning. Comprising 40,000 packets of relief material, the consignment will be handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross. Confabulations
The decision to send the National Security Adviser and the Foreign Secretary was taken after several high-level meetings over the past two days. One of them was chaired by Dr. Singh and attended by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Defence Minister A.K. Antony.
Dr. Singh had convened a series of top-level interactions which also included discussions with Congress president Sonia Gandhi after the party changed tack. It felt that the perceived inaction by the Centre on the plight of civilians turned into a major poll issue in Tamil
The two senior officials were sent to Colombo on the directions of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to articulate the Indian viewpoint on the crisis triggered by the fighting between the Sri Lankan forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in an area in northern Sri Lanka, where civilians have been trapped.
In a statement, Mr. Narayanan said they had conveyed the concerns of the Government of India at the evolving situation in the north, especially over the casualties among Tamil civilians as a result of the ongoing operations.
“We also expressed the Government of India’s concerns about the humanitarian situation as a result of nearly hundred thousand Tamil civilians coming out of the conflict zone since early this week. The President of Sri Lanka was receptive to our concerns. We are hopeful of a positive outcome,” he said.
Sources said Mr. Narayanan and Mr. Menon had a 90-minute meeting with Mr. Rajapaksa at his official residence. They arrived in Colombo by a special aircraft and were flown by helicopter to the President’s residence. Sri Lanka described the meeting as “very cordial,” while there was no word from the Indian side.
Meanwhile, the second consignment of humanitarian relief sent by India will reach Sri Lanka on Saturday morning. Comprising 40,000 packets of relief material, the consignment will be handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross. Confabulations
The decision to send the National Security Adviser and the Foreign Secretary was taken after several high-level meetings over the past two days. One of them was chaired by Dr. Singh and attended by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Defence Minister A.K. Antony.
Dr. Singh had convened a series of top-level interactions which also included discussions with Congress president Sonia Gandhi after the party changed tack. It felt that the perceived inaction by the Centre on the plight of civilians turned into a major poll issue in Tamil
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