Lanka sends senior minister to seek India's support

NEW DELHI: With the Sri Lanka peace process under threat due to escalation of violence, the island nation is sending a senior minister here this week to seek India's 'political' support for revival of the dialogue process between the government and LTTE.

Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera will undertake a two-day visit here from May 8, official sources said here on Sunday. He is expected to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and senior officials of the government.

Samaraweera is likely to ask India to step up its 'political support' to the peace process which has been threatened due to spiralling violence by LTTE and the military.

The Lankan government and LTTE were to hold Norwegian-brokered peace talks in Geneva on April 24. However, the Tamil group backed out a few days before the parleys.

Sri Lankan High Commissioner C R Jayasinghe said on Friday that his country it looked forward to India's "continued support in the political domain, in the arena of diplomacy, to the peace process" and to ensure attainment of a "negotiated peaceful political solution within the undivided Sri Lanka."