Lanka pushes India to help resume talks

Samaraweera told the prime minister during a meeting Monday evening that Sri Lankan government was committed to maintaining the truce with Tamil Tiger rebels and hold talks with Norwegian facilitator, sources said.

He apprised Singh of the current situation in the island nation after a recent round of escalated violence following the attack on Sri Lankan army chief and retaliatory strikes by Lankan armed forces on rebel positions.

The visiting Lanka foreign minister pushed India to play a greater role in putting pressure on LTTE to resume peace talks.

An Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesman said the prime minister "expressed India's interest in the continued stability and prosperity in Sri Lanka. India hoped that the parties in Sri Lanka would resume talks at the earliest."

Samaraweera also met Indian Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee and the issue of defence cooperation between the two countries is understood to have figured out prominently. He also had talks with Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma, senior BJP leader Jaswant Singh and CPI (M) general secretary Prakash Karat.

Karat is understood to have conveyed to the Lankan minister that a peaceful solution to the problem could be found with adequate devolution of powers in a federal set-up within the framework of a united Sri Lanka.