India Urges Colombo To Stop Fighting, Help Refugee

India's foreign minister urged Sri Lanka on Saturday to cease hostilities immediately and help evacuate thousands of people caught in a civil war with the Tamil Tigers.

India's government faces pressure to protect Tamils, who are closely linked to about 60 million Tamils in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu across a narrow strait from Sri Lanka, an issue all the more sensitive ahead of general elections in May.

In Sri Lanka, the Tigers are confined to less than 58 square km (22 sq miles) and are being pushed toward a 12-km (7.5-mile) no-fire zone on the island's northeastern coast where tens of thousands of people fleeing fighting have taken refuge.

Military commanders expect to have a final battle on the narrow strip of land with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who since 1983 have waged what is now Asia's longest-running civil war.

"The pause in hostilities must be utilised to facilitate the movement of the Tamil population out of the war-affected areas to secure locations where proper rehabilitation is possible," Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in a statement.

He said about 70,000 civilians were still trapped.

With elections only a couple of months away, India's Congress party wants to keep its coalition partners happy and would like to be seen as sympathetic towards Tamils.

Tamil Nadu's ruling party, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), has been one of the pillars of the federal coalition.

India is seeking the extradition of LTTE leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran, blamed for former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's assassination during a 1991 election campaign in Tamil Nadu.

The killing was to avenge Gandhi's decision in 1987 -- four years into the civil war in Sri Lanka -- to send a peacekeeping force to the country, which soon ended in open conflict.