• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

India expresses concern over killing of Tamils in Sri Lanka

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

New Delhi, April 23, IRNA -- Expressing concern over killing of innocent Tamils in Sri Lanka, India asked Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam to stop "barbaric" attempt to hold civilians hostage.

India's Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh convened an emergency meeting Wednesday night to review the situation in the island nation.

A special meeting, attended also by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Defence Minister A K Antony, National Security Adviser M K Narayanan and Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon was convened amid mounting pressure from Tamil Nadu parties on the Centre to stop war in Sri Lanka.

"We are very unhappy at the continued killing of innocent Tamil civilians in Sri Lanka. These killings must stop," Mukherjee told reporters after the hour-long meeting called to discuss the situation in the island nation in the light of Lankan army's final push against LTTE and the options available to India.

Earlier, The Indian National Congress, India's main ruling party, calls upon the Sri Lankan government to declare a ceasefire so that the humanitarian crisis can be resolved in a demonstrable way,' the party said in a statement.

Quoting the India-Sri Lanka Peace Accord of 1987, the Congress appealed the Sri Lankan government for the safety of the Tamil-speaking population.

'The Congress has always advocated the fulfilment of the legitimate aspirations of the Tamil-speaking minority of Sri Lanka within the framework of a united and federal Sri Lanka.

The blueprint for this solution had been worked out by late Rajiv Gandhi and forms an essential part of the India-Sri Lanka Peace Accord of 1987,' it said.

Earlier, Mukherjee at a Press Meet in Kolkata on Wednesday urged Sri Lanka to ensure that relief material India has sent to the country is distributed through the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka plans to send President Mahinda Rajapaksa's brother Basil Rajapaksa as a special envoy to brief India about the situation in the strife-hit island.

At least 95,000 civilians fled the war zone as the Sri Lankan troops continued what they call their “final assault” on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)-held territory in the narrow coastal strip in Mullaitivu district.