India asked neighboring war-torn Sri Lanka on Tuesday to allow evacuation of thousands of civilians from the war zone where the government forces and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are fighting in the northern part of the country.Indian External Affairs Ministry said New Delhi wishes Colombo to work out "appropriate and credible procedures" to evacuate civilians from the war zone, while expressing India's readiness to provide medical help to the wounded civilians and transport to bring out civilians by both land and sea routes.
"India is ready to provide all necessary help to facilitate the process of bringing innocent civilians to safety and to meet their humanitarian needs for relief materials, medicines and medical care," foreign ministry spokesman Vishnu Prakash said.
Thousands of Tamil civilians are reportedly trapped in a small chunk of territory where the LTTE is holding out against advancing government forces.
The Sri Lanka government Monday rejected a LTTE truce proposal, days after two LTTE planes were shot down after staging a suicide attack upon Colombo.
"We have seen reports that the LTTE has declared its willingness to discuss international appeals to permit internally displaced persons (IDPs) caught in the zone of conflict to leave the area for safety," said the spokesman.
"In this context, India appeals to the Sri Lankan government and to all concerned to work out appropriate and credible procedures for the evacuation of IDPs to safety, which would include the international agencies being able to oversee the movement of the IDPs," said the spokesman, while appealing to the two warring sides to respect "the sanctity of the safe zones".
Indian Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon, who is due to attend a meeting of South Asian nations' regional cooperation council in Colombo next we
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