Colombo: India has officially remained aloof of Sri Lanka's conflict, but as the Norwegian-backed peace bid gets down to tough bargaining the island is increasingly turning to New Delhi for help.

With the latest round of negotiations ending in Thailand last week, a Sri Lankan negotiator and key Minister Milinda Moragoda went straight to New Delhi, even before returning home.

The rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE), which had earlier been suspicious of any Indian involvement, marked a major shift by agreeing last week to obtain the services of a retired Indian Army general to advise them.

Retired Indian lieutenant general Sathish Nambiar is to provide a report on de- escalation in the island's embattled Northern peninsula of Jaffna, a contentious issues between the Tigers and Colombo.

The peace talks brokered by Norway saw the first major hiccup last week when the Tigers announced pulling out of a key panel entrusted with the winding down of the war.

However, the rebels have now agreed to look at a report Nambiar is expected to present to both parties shortly.

LTTE's chief negotiator Anton Balasingham told reporters in Thailand last week that they agreed to await the report, giving the nod to hiring Nambiar to provide an "independent" assessment.

After India's acrimonious involvement in Sri Lanka's drawn out ethnic conflict with the signing of the July 1987 Indo-Lanka accord and the subsequent deployment and withdrawal of troops, New Delhi till recently played a hands-off role in the island.

Analysts say India appears to be playing a low-key, yet an important role in helping Sri Lanka as Colombo moves to negotiate contentious issues with the rebels.

Sri Lanka's chief negotiator G L Peiris said India has been steadfastly supporting the peace drive and even offered expertise in drafting a new Constitution that could be the basis for a final settlement.

"India remains committed to a peaceful settlement in Sri Lanka and they have provided very tangible support. That includes a credit line of $ 200 million at very concessionary rates," Peiris said.

The Indian cash injection was crucial for the island as it was recovering from the worst recession in its history when the growth rate hit a dismal negative 1.4 per cent in 2001.

Government officials said India's credit line far exceeded the $ 70 million the island managed to raise from a meeting of international donors on November 25 in Oslo. There was also closer co-operation between the Navies of the two countries, and Sri Lanka's Navy chief Daya Sandagiri in December visited his counterpart in New Delhi.

"We have very close co-operation between our Navies and they pass on a lot of information to us and we act on that," Sandagiri said. However, he declined to give details of his talks in India.

Military sources said there was closer co-operation between other armed services too and New Delhi was considering requests for more training opportunities for Sri Lankan soldiers and officers.

Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has spoken of an "international safety net" in case the peace talks fail, like four previous attempts and the country plunges back to war.

However, Western diplomats said the prospect of millions of dollars in foreign aid to rebuild the island's economy, especially the infrastructure in the North East was encouraging the antagonists to remain in talks. The United States and Japan have taken a keen interest in helping the island resolve its drawn out conflict, which has claimed over 60,000 lives in the past three decades.

Japan has appointed one of its former top United Nations diplomats Yasushi Akashi, as a special peace envoy to Sri Lanka and entrusted him with the task of advising both sides to the conflict on rehabilitation issues.

Both sides point to a cease-fire that is holding since February as a sign of their commitment to peace.

More than 2,000 people met with violent deaths in 2000, but only two people were killed in the island's North East last year, underscoring how the conflict has been largely contained in the past year.

Diplomats said India's contribution to the restoration of normality was much bigger that that meets the eye.

PTI