Indian P.M.: No troops to Sri Lanka

CHENNAI, India, May 10 (UPI) -- Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Saturday the country will not send troops to Sri Lanka.

Singh said the Dravidian Progress Federation, or DMK, a party in Tamil Nadu, remains an important ally of his Congress Party. But he said Congress does not agree with the DMK demand for political autonomy for Tamils in Sri Lanka.

"What is possible and what is not possible, I think it is a matter of speculation," he said at a news conference. "But quite frankly we are dealing with a sovereign state Sri Lanka, a sovereign country. It is not so easy to march armies to a sovereign state."

The Sri Lankan Army has cornered the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or Tamil Tigers, and is attempting to crush them after several decades of civil war. International rights groups are concerned about the fate of Tamil civilians trapped between the opposing forces.