India asks LTTE to give up arms, urges Lanka to end offensive

New Delhi, Feb 5 (PTI) Voicing concern over the loss of
lives in embattled Sri Lanka, India Thursday asked the LTTE to
lay down arms and come to the negotiating table while urging
Colombo to suspend hostilities.

"We are deeply anguished at the loss of lives. We are not
happy that the Sri Lankan government has resumed hostilities.
It is for both sides to cease hostilities," Indian Home
Minister P Chidambaram told reporters here.

Replying to questions, he said the Sri Lankan government
must suspend hostilities and the LTTE must lay down arms.
"This must happen simultaneously. It requires both hands
to clap.

"Unfortunately, we are not able to prevail over the LTTE
to lay down arms and not able to prevail over the Sri Lankan
government beyond a point. We once again appeal to both sides
to give up hostilities and come to the negotiating table," the
Home Minister said.

Observing that the Central government was "very deeply
concerned" about the goings on in Sri Lanka, he said External
Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Foreign Secretary
Shivshankar Menon had visited Colombo.

"We were able to prevail upon Sri Lanka to pause
(hostilities) for 48 hours. We were disappointed that there
was no response from the LTTE. Even today there is no response
from the LTTE," he said.

To a question about the possibility of LTTE cadres
sneaking into the Indian territory, Chidambaram said the
Centre has sensitised the Tamil Nadu Government on the matter
and the LTTE was a banned organisation in India.

"The (Tamil) refugees will be dealt with according to the
extant policy," he said.

Asked about protests by some political parties in Tamil
Nadu on the ongoing conflict in the island nation, Chidambaram
said the Centre and the state government "have done, are doing
and will continue to do whatever is in our capacity". PTI SMI
SAK