The situation in Sri Lanka, where thousands of Tamil civilians are trapped in a shrinking are in the Vanni, facing ongoing shelling and bombardment by the Sri Lankan government, permeated the 45-minute discussion on Monday, March 10, between United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Indian Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon.
This was the first high-level interaction between India and the Obama administration in Washington.
"A discussion of one regional issue, in particular, was Sri Lanka - the importance of trying to find a way to make sure that whatever happens in the armed conflict, that there is a political settlement in the future that both the US and India can help create, and participate in," reported rediff.com.
"The Secretary is very concerned about the humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka and there is a sense that maybe there are things we (the US and India) can do together," rediff explained its source as saying to justify why Sri Lanka took centre stage at this first meeting between India and the new US administration.
Menon, according to the sources, 'was quite positive', in terms of concurrence with the concerns expressed by Clinton, although there was 'nothing specified' in terms on how this situation could be alleviated, but broadly "the idea that this is an area where we both have capabilities and interests and we'd like to be helpful."
The meeting between Clinton and Menon was described as " very warm and cordial," reported rediff.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka needs true devolution of power to minority Tamils if it wants to permanently end its long-running ethnic war, Menon said two days later. He said the U.S. and the Sri Lankan government itself both agreed with regional power India on the need to quickly restore daily life in war-torn areas.
India feels that along with reconstruction, Sri Lanka needs "to bring in the kinds of political steps including devolution which would enable the people there to feel they are in control of their own futures," Menon said.
"Unless that is done in a credible fashion, we run the risk of actually continuing with this sense of alienation and displacement which the conflict has resulted in," he told a news conference.
Menon said that his talks with U.S. President Barack Obama's administration showed the two sides "have very similar approaches."
"We will continue to stay in touch to see how we can help in this regard," he said.
Essentially, this first high level meeting visit by Indian officials to Washington was very much 'on a broad and general level', with an reaffirmation and reiteration of each side's commitment to the envisaged US-India strategic partnership, rediff reported.
Besides Clinton, the Monday meeting was attended by Under Secretary Burns, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Don Camp and State Department spokesman Robert Wood, who was taking notes, the source informed.
Menon was accompanied by Ambassador Ronen Sen, Deputy Chief of Mission at the Indian embassy in Washington Arun Kumar Singh, Joint Secretary Gayathri Kumar and other External Affairs Ministry officials.