'Lankan crisis likely to end in 24-48 hrs'

Sivaganga (Tamil Nadu), Apr 26 Union Home Minister P Chidambaram has expressed hope that the ongoing Sri Lanka crisis would come to an end 'in another 24 or 48 hours'.

Talking to reporters in Sivaganga, Chidambaram said Foreign Secretary Shivasankar Menon and National Security Advisor MK Narayanan, who met Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Friday, Apr 24 in Colombo, had made a strict demand to stop the hostilities.

He said that the Indian Government has expressed its concerns regarding the killing of innocent Tamil civilians in the war-struck country.

Dismissing the accusation that the Centre was not doing enough to control the situation in the island country, Chidambaram clarified that the Government of India has done its level best to mitigate the sufferings of Tamils in Sri Lanka.

He also assured that India had sent food and other relief materials to rehabilitate the Tamil civilians, who fled the war zone, in Sri Lanka.

Asked about the prospects of a shifting in of refugees from Sri Lanka to Tamil Nadu, he said that there was no danger of heavy refugee influx into the country.

Tamils in Sri Lanka were 'internally displaced,' said Chidambaram.

ANI