No military help to Lanka: PM assures Vaiko

Chennai, Nov 18: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today assured MDMK General Secretary Vaiko the Centre would not extend any ''lethal offensive military hardware'' to Sri Lanka that would be used against the Eelam Tamils there.

Allaying fears of the political parties in Tamil Nadu in this regard, Dr Singh, in a letter to Mr Vaiko, said India had always exerted pressure on Lanka to respect the sentiments of Tamils as citizens of that country.

''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,'' the Prime Minister said.

Mr Vaiko released the letter to the media at a press conference here.

''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.

The Prime Minister should take steps to get back the radars supplied to Lanka, Mr Vaiko said and pointed out that supply of arms of any kind would go against the unanimous decision taken at an all party meeting during the previous Vajpayee government at the Centre.

Mr Vaiko also recalled the assurance given by Dr Singh that India would take back the radars if a war like situation emerged in Lanka. Describing as unfortunate, the collapse of talks between the Lankan governemnt and the LTTE at Geneva recently, the Prime Minister said India would reiterate that a political solution should be arrived at through negotiations to end the ethnic conflict.

''We will reiterate our demand that they (Lankan government and LTTE) must find a political solution through negotiations to meet the genuine and legitimate rights of Tamils rather than adopt tactics that lead to the death of innocent people'', Dr Singh added.

On the Indian government's decision to send essential items like food and medicine to suffering Tamils, Mr Vaiko said it should not be sent through sea as it would not reach them.

''Sending it through, the sea might help the Lankan government to carry arms under the pretext of carrying food items'', he claimed and added it would also lead to stalling of the reopening of the A9 highway to Jaffna.

UNI