It's not Lebanon yet in Sri Lanka, but it's getting there. Fierce fighting has broken out between the military and LTTE rebels in the north and east of the country, sending thousands of civilians fleeing.
The ceasefire signed in 2002 is in tatters. The war has reached Colombo as well, with a bomb blast targeting the Pakistani ambassador and another frightening the South African cricket team away.
New Delhi has not endeared itself in Colombo by refusing to supply it with sophisticated arms to fight the LTTE.
But reports of a large number of children killed by a Sri Lankan air force strike on a rebel-held compound — the equivalent of the Israeli raids on Qana in Lebanon — demonstrate why New Delhi's hands are tied politically.
It cannot go very far in aiding Colombo because that would trigger Tamil outrage. Islamabad is attempting to fill the breach by sourcing arms to Colombo.
That was the provocation for the attack on the Pakistani ambassador. Instead of fretting over Pakistan's getting involved in Sri Lankan affairs New Delhi could well tell Islamabad "been there, done that".
It too had played an interventionist role in Sri Lanka once and got seriously bloodied. The reality is that the LTTE is well entrenched in the north and east of the country, and has the firepower and infrastructure to take on government forces.
Indian or Pakistani arms for Colombo won't make much difference. In that sense the Lebanon analogy holds: Israel and Hezbollah can fight themselves to a stalemate, but neither side can improve on that.
What it will take for a ceasefire to come about is for both sides to be convinced of this. That's the stage at which New Delhi can step in and suggest the only reasonable solution to the crisis: regional autonomy for Tamil areas within Sri Lanka.
As of now, New Delhi should support the international community which is calling for an end to the fighting.
Islamabad, instead of playing one-upmanship games with New Delhi over Sri Lanka, should realise that everyone in the region suffers from the same sort of problems, and by extension is affected when civil strife breaks out in a neighbouring country.
It ought, in fact, to join hands with New Delhi in brokering peace in Sri Lanka. That would generate the atmosphere of trust that's needed to push forward the sub-continental peace process itself.
The ceasefire signed in 2002 is in tatters. The war has reached Colombo as well, with a bomb blast targeting the Pakistani ambassador and another frightening the South African cricket team away.
New Delhi has not endeared itself in Colombo by refusing to supply it with sophisticated arms to fight the LTTE.
But reports of a large number of children killed by a Sri Lankan air force strike on a rebel-held compound — the equivalent of the Israeli raids on Qana in Lebanon — demonstrate why New Delhi's hands are tied politically.
It cannot go very far in aiding Colombo because that would trigger Tamil outrage. Islamabad is attempting to fill the breach by sourcing arms to Colombo.
That was the provocation for the attack on the Pakistani ambassador. Instead of fretting over Pakistan's getting involved in Sri Lankan affairs New Delhi could well tell Islamabad "been there, done that".
It too had played an interventionist role in Sri Lanka once and got seriously bloodied. The reality is that the LTTE is well entrenched in the north and east of the country, and has the firepower and infrastructure to take on government forces.
Indian or Pakistani arms for Colombo won't make much difference. In that sense the Lebanon analogy holds: Israel and Hezbollah can fight themselves to a stalemate, but neither side can improve on that.
What it will take for a ceasefire to come about is for both sides to be convinced of this. That's the stage at which New Delhi can step in and suggest the only reasonable solution to the crisis: regional autonomy for Tamil areas within Sri Lanka.
As of now, New Delhi should support the international community which is calling for an end to the fighting.
Islamabad, instead of playing one-upmanship games with New Delhi over Sri Lanka, should realise that everyone in the region suffers from the same sort of problems, and by extension is affected when civil strife breaks out in a neighbouring country.
It ought, in fact, to join hands with New Delhi in brokering peace in Sri Lanka. That would generate the atmosphere of trust that's needed to push forward the sub-continental peace process itself.