Sri Lanka was placed on a "war footing" yesterday as neighbouring India ruled out any military intervention in the country, where Tamil Tiger rebels were stepping up pressure against the military.
The cabinet, led by President Chandrika Kumaratunga, decided to "lead the country on a war footing", the state-run Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation quoted one minister as saying.
The minister said the government had decided "terrorism and the threat of terrorism" should be defeated at all costs in the "shortest possible time".
The minister said all nonessential development work would be suspended for three months and the money diverted to defence where possible.
The government announcement came as neighbouring India ruled out stepping into the conflict on the island, where Tamil Tiger rebels have made significant gains against government troops.
"Military intervention by India in Sri Lanka is completely ruled out," said the Foreign Minister, Mr Jaswant Singh. Mr Singh was speaking in New Delhi following a meeting of the cabinet committee on security at the residence of the Indian Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee.
The committee meeting followed talks between Mr Vajpayee and the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister, Mr Lakshman Kadirgamar.
The Sri Lankan Foreign Minister had earlier indicated that Colombo might request Indian naval assistance in evacuating between 25,000 and 40,000 troops threatened by LTTE rebels in Jaffna.
"No specific request of that kind has been made. Possibly it could come. It could be on the cards," Mr Kadirgamar said before the meeting with Mr Vajpayee.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka's ruling party deputies were told that President Kumaratunga had sought help from abroad following major reversals in the battle against Tamil separatists. But ruling party officials said Ms Kumaratunga had ruled out deploying foreign troops.
Ms Kumaratunga told deputies of her People's Alliance party (PA) that government troops would defend the northern town of Jaffna, which the Tiger guerrillas have been fighting to recapture in recent weeks.
One deputy at the meeting said she made it clear that security forces would resist a comeback by the LTTE, which was driven out in December 1995.
Ms Kumaratunga, who was wounded in a Tamil Tiger suicide-bomb attack on December 18th, has sought help from Norway to help bring the LTTE to the peace negotiating table. So far, however, the two sides have not met.
The military situation in the peninsula became difficult when the Tigers captured the main military garrison at Elephant Pass, the gateway to the peninsula, and made further gains by capturing another two key bases.
The United Nations last month pulled out most of its staff because of the worsening fighting.
With the fall of the Elephant Pass army garrison on April 22nd, the Tigers have been making steady gains and are now just 28 miles south of Jaffna town, the cultural centre of Tamils.