New Delhi pushes hard for truce; but will Lanka listen?

New Delhi is pushing hard for a truce in Sri Lanka. Two of its top officials, Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon and National Security Adviser M K Narayanan, will be in Colombo on Friday to press for an end to hostilities.

However, the big question is - will the Sri Lankan government listen to India?

President Rajapakse has made it clear he will not give in to pressure from the international community including India, and will go in for the final push against the LTTE.

And it seems that India can do little more than just conveying its concern on the rapidly worsening humanitarian crisis to the Sri Lankan establishment.

Speaking to NDTV, India's deputy foreign minister said that New Delhi's options are limited.

"It's not a question of pressure, we want to register our concern," said Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma.

"What more diplomacy can we do? We have used all diplomatic options," he added.

Meanwhile, fresh footage available from Sri Lanka now shows how the LTTE is allegedly trying to block the movement of civilians trying to escape from the no-fire zone north of the country.

The pictures clearly show LTTE cadres shooting at the civilians who have grouped on the beach and trying to get to government controlled area. The footage also shows how thousand of civilians are completely gheraoed by the militant cadres and are being held at gunpoint.

LTTE chief Prabhakaran continues to remain untraced in Sri Lanka's conflict zone but the government has already shifted it attention to post-conflict situation even as there's relief among common people that war is finally over.