It is only rarely that foreign dignitaries show the inclination to visit a country twice in the same month. But with Mr Mangala Samaraweera, the Sri Lankan foreign minister, it is different. He came to convince a neighbouring government, a somewhat reluctant listener, of the need for its intervention in the crisis in his island nation. The situation in Sri Lanka has turned pretty desperate over the past few months because of the intensified conflict between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and the government. There have been more of the Tigers? trademark suicide bombings (Monday?s assassination of the third-highest ranking military officer being the most recent), attacks on civilians, and the strident return to the decades-old position on ?self-determination?. These, together with the government?s air strikes on rebel territory and counter-offensive strategies, make a mockery of the 2002 ceasefire agreement. With the Tigers refusing to talk at the recent Oslo meet and threatening to stay out of peace negotiations till all mediators from European Union countries are pulled out ? its answer to the EU ban ? even the process of dialogue seems threatened. At the receiving end of the violence are the people, especially those in the north, who are now trying to escape to Indian shores.

It is this aspect of the conflict that is the Indian government?s more immediate concern, although India has made it amply clear that it would rather have Sri Lanka solve its own problem. For Mr Samaraweera, and peculiarly also for the Tigers, the attitude is damaging. Sri Lanka wants India to take up surveillance of its waters more seriously to help it tame the Tigers, and the Tigers want the Tamil Nadu government to voice Tamil concerns to show solidarity. But neither the Central nor the state government is game for that. The former because it burnt its fingers with the Indian peacekeeping operation and was humbled by the Rajiv Gandhi assassination. And the latter because its chief minister, Mr M. Karunanidhi, is a sharp judge of situations. The Eelam cause was not politically beneficial for him in the Nineties. Now, with the Congress as an ally, it is an even worse gambit. Mr Karunanidhi has indicated that he will follow New Delhi?s directives in this matter. But will the opposition?s increasing emphasis on ?immediate action? and the heightened emotional pitch following greater influx of refugees allow him to toe the Centre?s line forever?