NEW DELHI, May 9 (UPI) -- India has said it will continue with defense supplies to Sri Lanka provided the issue stays out of the public eye.
The Indian Express newspaper said Tuesday that the issue of defense supplies arose during discussions between Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera and Indian Defense Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
"While Samarweera did not specifically raise the pending comprehensive defense cooperation agreement issue, he did bring up the need for continuing and strengthening defense supplies, maintaining coast guard surveillance and extending training assistance," said an unidentified Indian Foreign Ministry official.
The Sri Lankan foreign minister, who is currently visiting India, also met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and is slated to hold separate talks with National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan and Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran.
The Foreign Office said Samaraweera briefed the Indian leadership on the situation in his country after the recent spate of violence that began with an attack on a Sri Lankan army chief and was followed by retaliatory strikes by the Sri Lankan air force on select Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelsm bases.
The Sri Lankan minister urged India to play a bigger role in getting the international community to put pressure on the LTTE to maintain order, a Foreign Office official said, adding that Samaraweera and his government believed the Tamil rebels had used the four-year truce agreement to strengthen itself.
"The prime minister expressed India's interest in the continued stability and prosperity of Sri Lanka," said Navtej Sarna, Indian Foreign Office spokesman.
