India not to give military aid to Lanka

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday assured Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief Vaiko that India would not offer any military help to Sri Lanka.

The prime minister also said he will meet Tamil MPs from Sri Lanka.

''India will not do anything that will strengthen Sri Lankan military,'' Dr Singh assured Vaiko, who called on the prime minister after holding a demonstration outside the Sri Lankan High Commission protesting against the military offensive against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

Accepting another demand of the MDMK delegation that he meet 22 Tamil MPs of Sri Lanka, Dr Singh said he was willing to receive the people's representatives of the strife-torn nation if they wanted to meet him.

During the 90-minute demonstration, they also demanded that Sri Lanka immediately pull out its forces from the Jaffna peninsula.

The MDMK leaders submitted a memorandum to Dr Singh, demanding that all medical and other humanitarian aid to Sri Lanka be routed through international organisations such as the Red Cross.

They also wanted India to give asylum to all the Tamils from Sri Lanka and raise the financial assistance to such refugees.

The meeting at Dr Singh's 7 Race Course residence, lasted about 20 minutes.

In the five-page memorandum, the MDMK urged India to 'insist upon the Sri Lankan government to stop forthwith the onslaught of armed forces against the Tamil and honour the sincere efforts of Norwegian government for peace talks by fulfilling the commitment' made by Colombo in the last round of the talks in Norway.

The party said it was a matter of grave concern that Sri Lanka was acquiring enormous sophisticated weapons from Pakistan.

''We understand that on August 14, 2006, two shiploads of Pakistan weapons have reached Sri Lanka. With ulterior diabolic design Sri Lanka government is hobnobbing with Pakistan. The ISI of Pakistan is operating in Sri Lanka with sinister plans which will be detrimental to the peace and security of India, particularly Tamil Nadu,'' it said.