India rejects Rajapakse's call for joint naval patrols - Hindu

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 November 2006, 16:36 GMT]
Indian Press Reports Wednesday said that Indian External Affairs Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, had expressed India's concerns at the continuing civilian deaths in Sri Lanka and had reiterated that there was no military solution to the conflict between the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The proposal for joint naval patrols advanced by the Sri Lankan President was not on the cards, Hindu reported. However, India was prepared to assist the Rajapakse government with "non-lethal" military supplies, according to the report.

India's External Affairs Minister had called on the visiting Sri Lankan President and Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera Tuesday. The meeting took place in a "restricted" and delegation-level format.

Senior officials from the Indian Defence Ministry were present at the meeting.

Indian Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon who visited Sri Lanka prior to Mr. Rajapakse's visit to India, was also present with Mr. Pranab Mukherjee at the meeting.

Rajapakse was scheduled to meet Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Wednesday.

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