PM not to visit Lanka next month

As Sri Lanka slipped deeper into a military impasse between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and government troops, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today virtually confirmed that he would not visit Colombo next month for the 60th anniversary of Sri Lanka's Independence Day on February 4.

"I have not made up my mind," he told reporters here when asked whether he would be travelling to the island nation next month.

According to New Delhi, the dates proposed by the Sri Lankan side were not suitable. However, the real reason for the decision is not far to seek: the unilateral abrogation of the cease-fire "� such as it was "� by the government in the North and East, despite Delhi's advice that a political package for the Tamils must be put in place.