Narayanan, Menon meet Rajapaksa, discuss current situation

Colombo, Apr 24 (PTI) Amidst concern over the
political fallout in India's southern state of Tamil Nadu of
the ongoing army campaign in Sri Lanka's north, National
Security Adviser M K Narayanan and Foreign Secretary
Shivshankar Menon Friday held talks with President Mahinda
Rajapaksa and discussed the current situation.

It was not clear whether the Indian special envoys,
who rushed here this morning, put forward the demand for an
immediate ceasefire during their 90-minute meeting with the
President at his official residence 'Temple Trees'.

"It was a very cordial meeting and they discussed the
current situation," official sources said. There was no
comment from the Indian side.

Narayanan and Menon arrived here by a special aircraft
and were flown to the President's house in a helicopter. They
left for home immediately after the meeting.

India had Thursday asked for an immediate end to "all
hostilities" as it reviewed the situation in the island's
north where thousands of civilians are trapped in the conflict
between the advancing army and LTTE.

"The Government of India has been monitoring with deep
concern and anxiety the evolving situation in Sri Lanka, in
particular the condition of Tamil civilians in conflict
zones," External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee had said
yesterday after a meeting convened by Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh to review the situation in Sri Lanka.

Home Minister P Chidambaram, Defence Minister A K
Antony, Narayanan and Menon also attended the meeting.

The decision to send the two top officials was also
taken at the meeting, which came against the backdrop of
demands from political parties in Tamil Nadu, especially
Congress' main ally DMK, for a ceasefire in the island nation.

The ruling party had also given a call for a bandh in
Tamil Nadu yesterday demanding a ceasefire in the fighting
between the Sri Lankan Army and the LTTE. PTI