Allaying apprehensions expressed by political parties in Tamil Nadu, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday assured that the Centre will not provide Sri Lanka with "lethal offensive military hardware, especially those which could be used against the Tamil population" there.

In a letter to Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief Vaiko, Dr Singh said at every opportunity, the Indian government had put pressure on the Sri Lankan government to respect the rights and privileges of Tamils as citizens of the country.

"You may rest assured that we would do everything that we can to ensure diplomatically and otherwise that the loss of innocent lives does not take place," Dr Singh said in his letter, which was released to the press by Vaiko on Saturday.

Vaiko said the prime minister, who was dealing with the sensitive issue with utmost caution, should make efforts to take back the radars supplied to the Sri Lankan government.

The supply or sale of arms of any kind was against the unanimous decision taken at an all-party meeting when A B Vajpayee was the prime minister, he said.

When he met Dr Singh last time, he had brought this to his notice, Vaiko said adding, the prime minister had assured him that the radars would be taken back if a "warlike situation emerged in the island".