US in talks with India on Lanka

WASHINGTON: The United States has said it was engaged in "active dialogue" with India on the developments in Sri Lanka, where the stepped up attacks by Tamil Tigers were particularly "very troublesome," but stressed that it was up to New Delhi to decide the kind of role it wanted to play.

 

The violence in Sri Lanka was "very, very disturbing" and the stepped up Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam attacks showed that the rebels were proceeding towards war rather than keeping the focus on peace talks with the Colombo government, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Richard Boucher said in an interview to PTI at the State Department here.
   
On what role the US would like New Delhi to play, Boucher replied: "That is for India to decide. That is where we have an active dialogue with India but ultimately how much
India should do, how it wants to work with the international community that will be for India to decide."

 

"First of all we are interested in the Indian view. Second, we are interested in Indian thoughts on how the international community should proceed but we are also looking to enhance our cooperation with India," the senior State Department official said.

 

The US supported the efforts of Norway to get the parties -- Sri Lankan government and the LTEE -- back to the peace table, he said, adding Washington was looking forward to discussions in Tokyo next week with other countries and at which time it might make a more specific comment on where the situation in the island nation was heading.