In the discussion ahead of the meeting of Sri Lanka's donor co-chairs in Tokyo, Norwegian peace mediator Erik Solheim who met Indian National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan on Saturday to review the escalating violence in Sri Lanka suggested a bigger role for India in restoring peace and stability in the island.

Solheim briefed Narayanan on the discussions he had with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse on Friday on the need for an early resumption of dialogue between the government and LTTE, official sources told IANS.

The Norwegian minister urged cautious New Delhi to play a 'bigger role' in the Lankan peace process and repeated a request made earlier for India to join the other co-chairs at the Tokyo meeting commencing on Monday.

India has not shown any willingness to become a co-chair as it will involve sitting on the same table with the LTTE - an outfit outlawed by India after the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991.

The co-chairs, US, the EU, Japan and Norway, will, however, brief India on the discussions at the Tokyo conference.

Solheim also conveyed the decision of the 25-nation European Union (EU) to proscribe the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and discussed the fallout of this step on the prospects of the peace process in Sri Lanka.

The two officials agreed that there was urgent need for bringing the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE to the negotiating table failing which the situation might escalate into a full-scale civil war, the sources said.

Narayanan expressed India's 'deep concern' over the civil war-like situation in Sri Lanka and the possible influx of Lankan Tamils to Tamil Nadu.

He also told Solheim that the EU ban on the LTTE has made the job of peace negotiators all the more challenging and underlined the point that the proscription of the rebel outfit should not be seen as an occasion for gloating but for getting them to the negotiating table, the sources said.

They added that Narayanan also told Solheim that it was time to focus not just on the ceasefire, but also on 'political settlement' of the issue of peace and reconciliation in the island nation and has recommended 'some variant of Indian federal structure' as an ideal solution.

New Delhi, which backs Norwegian efforts of mediation in the escalating violent situation in Sri Lanka, has urged both sides to show flexibility to hold talks in Geneva and to prevent the present situation degenerating into an all-out war.

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