The Sri Lankan government said Wednesday that it would welcome more help from the Indian government to curb action of the Tamil Tiger rebels.

Keheliya Rambukwella, the government's defense spokesman and the minister of Foreign Employment told reporters that Sri Lanka appreciated Indian action on Feb. 13 to apprehend a Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) owned boat and later destroy it.

The boat contained a substantial quantity of explosives and T56 rifles, Rambukwella said.

"The Indian role is becoming vibrant now. I request India to do more than this," Rambukwella said.

India has adopted a hands off policy on the Sri Lankan conflict ever since the then Sri Lankan government asked the Indian Peace Keeping Force to leave the island in 1990.

The Indian troops were invited by the then Sri Lankan President J. R. Jayawardane as part of the India-Lanka peace accord of July 1987.

The LTTE in the formative years of its movement underwent training in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the home to some 60 million Tamils.

India continues to refrain from involving directly in the Sri Lankan conflict, but they support the Norwegian backed initiative to bring peace to the island.

Source: Xinhua