October 20, 2008	Monday	Shawwal 20, 1429

COLOMBO, Oct 19: The Sri Lankan government has invited Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee to Colombo to see for himself the ground situation in regard to Tamil civilians trapped in the northern region in the wake of the military operation against the Tigers.

They said that India had already conveyed to Sri Lanka what it had wanted to say, and Sri Lanka had conveyed what it wanted to. And both sides knew what more had to be done to address India’s concerns arising from the volatile situation in Tamil Nadu state, home to 60 million ethnic Tamils.

Among the things that needs to be done now on an urgent basis is the provision of medicines and sanitation facilities to the refugees who are trapped in the districts of Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu.

“The population needs anti-diarrhoea drugs, disinfectants and medicines to treat malaria and snake bites.

These are not dual use items and are unlikely to be taken away by the militants,” one official said.

The other thing that India expects Sri Lanka to do is to conduct the aerial operation in such a way that the civilians were not affected.

So far, there have been no civilian casualties because the air attack has not been done in populated areas.

The Sri Lankan government will also have to implement its declaration regarding the “No Fire Zones” or safe havens for the civilians.

It will also have to assure ‘no firing’ on the route the civilians have been asked to take to come over to the government-held areas in Vavuniya district.