Extend ceasefire, India tells Lanka

Amid criticism that it wasn't doing enough to influence Sri Lanka, India today made it clear to Colombo that further civilian casualties in the war zone would be "totally unacceptable". This came on a day the Jayalalithaa-led AIADMK said in its election manifesto that if devolution of powers in Tamil-dominated provinces of Sri Lanka failed to give equal status to Tamils, it would press for a “separate Eelam”.
Adding to the pressure, Tamil Nadu chief minister Mr M Karunanidhi shot off a telegram to New Delhi urging the government to sever all ties with Colombo if did not honour and implement India's appeal for a ceasefire immediately.
“Tamils should be accorded equal status with the Sinhala majority with devolution of administrative power in the Tamil-dominated provinces of Sri Lanka,” the AIADMK manifesto, released by Miss J Jayalalithaa in Chennai, reads. It reads: “If these moves fail, then AIADMK will press for a separate state of Eelam to ensure that Tamils in the island live a life of dignity.”
Foreign minister Mr Pranab Mukherjee urged Sri Lanka to extend a limited ceasefire to enable the civilians trapped in the conflict zone to move to safe areas. "Sri Lanka must extend this pause in hostilities to prevent further casualties and enable trapped civilians to leave the area to secure locations," he said in an unusually hard-hitting statement. "Continuation of precipitate military actions leading to further civilian casualties at this time would be totally unacceptable," he added. Mr Mukherjee said that while it was incumbent on the LTTE to release all civilians under its control, Colombo "cannot be oblivious to the evolving human tragedy and the fate of the Tamil civilian population caught up in the so-called no fire zone". "There is no reason not to continue with the pause in military actions in the no fire zone... India expects the government of Sri Lanka and others concerned to respond positively to this appeal...," Mr Mukherjee said.
The statement was immediately hailed by the Tamil National Alliance, the pro-LTTE Sri Lankan Tamil grouping that over the past two days met national security advisor Mr MK Narayanan and foreign secretary Mr Shivshankar Menon to impress upon them the need for India to act fast.
In Chennai, the AIADMK manifesto promised a grant of Rs 10,000 crore for the restoration and development of Tamil areas of Sri Lanka after the devolution was completed. Sharing the dais with CPI-M general secretary Mr Prakash Karat, CPI leaders Mr N Varadarajan, Mr AB Bhardan, Mr D Raja, Mr D Pandian other than PMK founder Dr S Ramadoss and MDMK leader Mr Vaiko, Miss Jayalalithaa urged the electorate: "Give us 40 seats and we can be kingmakers.”
Meanwhile, as top UN official and veteran Indian diplomat Mr Vijay Nambiar met Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to discuss the plight of civilians trapped in fighting in the north, the LTTE, in a statement on the pro-Tiger TamilNet website, accused the UN, India and the international community of tacitly backing Sri Lanka in launching a military offensive in the civilian safety zone even as it sought a permanent truce in the north..