President Mahinda Rajapaksa reiterated his Government's consistent stand in preventing collateral damage being caused to civilians in the final phase of the current military operations to defeat terrorism in the country during a courtesy call on him by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nepal, Upendra Yadav in Colombo yesterday.

Responding to a query as to the expected time-frame for the present military conflict to end, the President explained that the security forces are adopting a cautious approach in pursuing their operations against the terrorists in order to avoid causing civilian casualties.

The visiting Foreign Minister is in Sri Lanka to attend the 31st Session of the SAARC Council of Ministers which will be inaugurated today by President Rajapaksa.