India has asked the Rajapaksa Government to make conceivable efforts to prevent civilian casualties.
Expressing concern over the fate of innocent people caught in the war between Sri Lankan Army and LTTE in the island's north, India has asked the Rajapaksa Government to make conceivable efforts to prevent civilian casualties.
Minister of State for external affairs E Ahmed said India hopes for early resumption of the "full democratic process" in northern Lanka on the basis of a political package that addresses the aspirations of all citizens of the country.
Ahmed was talking to reporters here on arrival from Colombo after attending the two-day SAARC Foreign ministers' Conference, during which he met Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa.
"We have conveyed to Sri Lanka that war is not a solution to the problem," Ahmed said.
The minister said he conveyed India's concern on civilian safety to Rajapaksa during his meeting.
Ahmed said the Lankan president also expressed concern over the civilian casualties and gave details of the steps taken by that country to provide relief to civilians.
The minister said an emergency medical team from India would be dispatched to Lanka to attend to the medical needs of the civilians fleeing from the war zone in northern Lanka.
Ahmed said India is committed to assist Sri Lanka in providing relief to civilians caught in the conflict area.
During the meeting with Rajapaksa, bilateral relations were reviewed and both countries resolved to strengthen them, Ahmed said.
At the conference, the member nations resolved to strengthen the existing SAARC mechanism to fight terrorism, he said.
The minister said India would soon respond soon to Pakistan's questions on the 26/11 Mumbai strikes dossier, he said.
India hopes that Pakistan would pursue a credible and sustainable process to bring the culprits behind the Mumbai outrage to justice and also take steps to dismantle the infrastrucutre of terrorism on its soil, Ahmed said.
The Conference also discussed the economic crisis and resolved to examine the prospects for increased inter-regional cooperation through reinforced trade mechanisms to deal with the global meltdown, Ahmed said.
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