‘Spare Lankan Tamil civilians’

External affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee appealed to Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa on Sunday to make a distinction between the LTTE, which is banned in India and several other countries, and Tamil civilians caught in the crossfire.

Though there is little sympathy for the LTTE either in India or elsewhere, there is a growing concern across the global community for Tamil civilians. There is also the fear that once the Tigers are marginalised, Colombo may not be willing to give the Tamil minorities their due.

While Rajapaksa has said that  civilians caught in the war zone would be taken care of, there has been no mention of a political package yet. Privately India is pushing for a full-scale devolution of power to the northern and eastern provinces.

“We have no sympathy for the LTTE which is a terrorist organisation,” Mukherjee said at a Congress conclave here. “But please make a distinction between rebels and civilians,” he said.