“We are very unhappy at the continued killing of innocent Tamil civilians in Sri Lanka. These killings must stop,” External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee told journalists after an hour-long meeting, Wednesday 22, of top Indian policy makers to discuss the situation in the light of Sri Lankan Army’s final push against the LTTE and the options available to India.

Mr. Mukherjee said the Sri Lankan government had a responsibility to protect its own citizens. At the same time, he said, “the LTTE must stop its barbaric attempt to hold civilians hostage.”

These observations emerged as India voiced its unhappiness over continued killing of innocent Tamil civilians, as Prime Minister Manmohan Sing reviewed the situation in Sri Lanka with his key advisors.

The special review meeting was also attended by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Defence Minister A.K. Antony, National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan and Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon was convened amid mounting pressure from Tamil Nadu parties on the Centre to stop the war in Sri Lanka, the Hindu reported.

He added that “The only lasting solution will come from political efforts to address the real concerns of the Tamil people, giving them a life of dignity within the Sri Lankan mainstream.”

India, he said, would work to achieve this goal and do all it could to ameliorate the humanitarian crisis caused by the conflict, PTI reported.

In an earlier Tuesday (21), Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the government considers the LTTE a terrorist organization, and its chief V. Prabhakaran a “proclaimed offender.”

The situation in Sri Lanka is impacting on the campaigning of the Congress and BJP and their allies in Tamil Nadu, especially with strongly rival pro-LTTE comments make by the DMK leader Karunanidhi and his rival the AIADMK leader Jayalalitha.

Earlier, Mr. Mukherjee cut short his campaigning to attend the meeting, which took place ahead of a 12-hour strike called for Thursday in Tamil Nadu to protest against the plight of Tamils in the conflict zone. The government dispatched 40,000 ‘family packs’ to Sri Lanka, bringing the total of such packets — which would help a nuclear family keep going for a week — to one lakh.