Colombo: Sri Lanka's main Opposition party on December 5 disputed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's claim that India was "fully on board" with regard to his peace moves, saying New Delhi's absence from peace talks with Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Oslo were a "snub" to the government.

Leaders of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), who returned after three days of talks with Indian leaders, said New Delhi was backing the peace process but was clear that the unity and territorial integrity of Sri Lanka should be protected.

"It is futile for the Prime Minister to project that India is very much part of the peace process and it is fully on board," Anura Bandaranaike, adviser to the President, who led the SLFP delegation, told reporters.

The SLFP heads the People's Alliance of President Chandrika Kumaratunga.

Bandaranaike said Wickremesinghe was playing down the "clear snub" that India administered to the United National Front (UNF) government's approach to peace by its absence from a recent conference in Oslo to demonstrate support for the process.

Bandaranaike, who delivered a sealed letter to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee from Kumaratunga, said the three-member delegation had also met External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha, National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra, Natwar Singh (Congress) and Sitaram Yechuri (CPM).

He said that based on their discussions with the Indian leaders, the party understood that there was a clear consensus in India that any solution should protect the unity and territorial integrity of Sri Lanka.

PTI