External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said India is making arrangements to send an emergency medical unit and medicines to render assistance to internally-displaced persons in northern Sri Lanka.

"The government of India views with grave concern the humanitarian concern that is building up with every passing day in Sri Lanka," Mukherjee said in a statement here. Citing reports which suggest that over 70,000 civilians are trapped in the conflict zone in Sri Lanka, he said there is acute shortage of food, water and medicines and many innocent lives have been lost in the conflict zone.

"It is reported that the LTTE has offered a ceasefire. While this may fall short of a declaration of willingness to lay down arms, it is our view that the government of Sri Lanka should seize the opportunity presented by the offer to bring about a pause in the hostilities," Mukherjee said.

"The government of India would, therefore, appeal to the government of Sri Lanka to immediately work out safe passage for trapped civilians to secure locations," he said, adding this would require the cooperation of LTTE. More...Discuss this story Published: Sat Feb 28 09:53:17 EST 2009

John Holmes also called on the Sri Lankan government to allow civilians to leave safely, either by agreeing to a temporary halt in hostilities or the establishment of a humanitarian corridor for safe passage through the front lines in the South Asian island's northeast.

Steps are also needed "to ensure a peaceful, orderly and humane end to the fighting," he said. "The risk of a very bloody end to this long running conflict is otherwise unacceptably high."

Holmes briefed the U.N. Security Council on his visit to Sri Lanka on a day when government troops drove deeper into the Tamil Tigers' dwindling stronghold, confining the rebels to an area smaller than Manhattan. The government has said it is on the verge of destroying the rebels and ending the Indian Ocean nation's quarter-century civil war.

"Estimates vary of the number of civilians trapped, from 70,000 according to the government, through around 200,000 according to U.N. estimates, up to 300,000 or more according to Tamil groups," Holmes said.

"The number of casualties from the fighting, among whom we believe are many civilians, cannot be verified in the absence of independent sources, since humanitarian agencies and the media have no access to the area, but we believe dozens of people per day at least are being killed and many more wounded," he added. More...Discuss this story Published: Sat Feb 28 02:25:51 EST 2009

At the SAARC Foreign Ministers conference here, Mr. Rajapaksa said terrorism impacted the whole region, in one way or another.

The conference which concludes on Saturday is expected to adopt a declaration on terrorism. One of the main elements of the declaration pertains to the need for a review of all the declarations and instruments adopted by the SAARC over the years to tackle the challenges posed by terrorism.

“Our societies bear the brunt of the evil force of terrorism. But, we cannot and should not allow even a single citizen of South Asia to suffer as a result of the brutal violence unleashed by terrorists. Therefore, we need to re-double our efforts to combat this menace individually and collectively.” More...Discuss this story Published: Fri Feb 27 21:07:17 EST 2009