In the wake of the Tamil Tigers using air power for the first time in Sri Lanka, India today voiced serious concern over the escalation of violence there and said it would encourage Sri Lankans to find a political solution to the “tragic” conflict themselves.Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon said that New Delhi would be talking to all concerned in Sri Lanka over the next week or so in this regard.“We are very concerned at the escalation of violence recently and LTTE air strike is one example in this escalation of violence,” he said, referring to the Tigers using aircraft to bomb an airbase near Colombo on Monday.Menon said Indian government remained engaged with everyone in Sri Lanka, including the government, to see what it can do for resolution of the problem there.New Delhi also wants to see what it can do to ameliorate the condition of Sri Lankans caused by the conflict. “The main issue is to get a solution to the conflict. Picking an individual incident of violence does not help us to address the root cause of problem. The root cause of problem is the conflict, which is escalating,” Menon said.The escalation of violence has had humanitarian consequences, like internal displacement of over one lakh people, he said, adding, this was a worrying development.“We join our voice with all those in Sri Lanka and abroad who hope violence comes to an end soon,” he said, noting that Colombo would be raising the issue of escalation of violence at the SAARC Summit to be held here on April 3-4.
