The following is the text of the Press Release issued by the Government of India on this subject today:

"The Government of India is deeply concerned over the failure of the proposed meeting between the Government of Sri Lanka and representatives of the LTTE, aimed at strengthening the role of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission and ensuring the security of its members.

India has supported the role of the monitoring mission and believes it has made a significant contribution to the maintenance of the ceasefire and in preventing and limiting the violations of the ceasefire, which have, unfortunately, become more frequent in the recent past.

It remains our conviction that the ethnic issue in Sri Lanka must be resolved through peaceful dialogue and, in this context, any weakening of the role of the SLMM is likely to have adverse consequences.

The Government of India appreciate the willingness of the Government of Sri Lanka to engage in the talks in Oslo facilitated by Norway and express the hope that the dialogue process would be resumed at the earliest in order to avoid any further worsening of the situation."