The news from the Glass House in New York - the United Nations -- is that there are moves afoot by interested parties to bring the escalating humanitarian situation in Sri Lanka's troubled Wanni district to the attention of the apex of that organisation - the Security Council. These moves (please see page one story), insidious as they may seem, because the nations at the forefront of the campaign - Austria, Mexico and Costa Rica - have little, if anything to do with Sri Lanka, have been shot down by Sri Lanka's steadfast ally in its war against terrorism - China.

An earlier move was deflected by Russia, and diplomatic circles in the corridors of the Glass House are buzzing with the speculation that the country has lost its influence due to the Government's military offensive that is pulling the strings of these puppet states. Nevertheless, the stark reality that sections of the International Community (IC) are engaged in diplomatic manoeuvrings on the world stage must strike home to the powers-that-be in Colombo.

Increasingly, there is pressure mounting and fears expressed - especially from the western countries where there is heavy lobbying by Sri Lankan expatriates and a group of international 'bleeding-hearts', many of whom have been antagonised by ham-handed diplomacy on Colombo's part - that civilians trapped between the Security Forces and the LTTE are going to be massacred very soon. "A slaughter waiting to happen" is how one of the western newspapers reported it, while the UN itself doles out figures of the dead - 2300 civilians killed since January, they claim. The situation indeed is grim. There is rain, and therefore, mosquitoes and therefore, dengue and other fevers raging. There is no proper habitation, nor sanitation. Food supplies are disrupted. Then, there are the bombs and the shooting from both sides.

It is miserable out there, from whatever bits and pieces of news that trickle in from the 'war zone' for the hapless civilians caught in the middle. Soldiers are also dying and losing their limbs to end this 'quarter century and counting' 'war'. But with the LTTE almost at the end of its tether, after twenty-five years of wreaking terror, and some 70,000 deaths of Sri Lankans on its hands, the Government is resolved to seeing an end to this debilitating conflict.

The Foreign Secretary is reported this week quoting Colombo-based foreign diplomats as saying, after they had visited several refugee camps for the IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons) that the situation is better than it is in Darfur (Sudan) or in Eastern Congo.

That cannot be taken as a compliment but rather should be seen as an urgent reminder that maximum effort must be made on all fronts to improve the situation. Back in August in these columns, the Government was warned against allowing the declining humanitarian situation in the Wanni, as the Security Forces made advances and the LTTE increasingly took cover behind the populace, to escalate into a full-blown campaign that could be used to whip up world opinion against it.

We said, "The Government must be mindful of international repercussions and precedents when the world community justifies intervention even though it violated all norms of international law. There are interested parties peddling new concepts like 'Right to Protect' particularly aimed at situations like one finds in Sri Lanka". We pointed out the heavy burden the Government carries with an extra duty of care over these trapped civilians in the clash of arms.

"The Government may have good intentions of liberating them from guerrilla clutches, but their means must justify their ends …Unfortunately, it does not have the luxury that the western powers have when they go to war and cause 'collateral damage' to civilians.." Each and every country, bloc and human rights watchdog organisation, wants to come and file a report on what's happening in the Wanni. So exasperated seems to be the Sri Lankan Foreign Secretary that he appealed to them not to place a heavier burden than already exists on logistics and security for these visitors. As he succinctly put it; while the Government does not intend to shy away from transparency, it is not the Government's intention to set up 'IDP related tourism' where the IC visited the camps and gaped at civilians who had escaped from the LTTE.

The Government must be mindful of not letting the situation slip any further. It has a monumental task, not least, to ensure that the good name of the country is not dragged in the mud. World opinion cannot easily be brushed away for a country that relies heavily on the world outside. Equally, the world-at-large has a duty to stop harassing the Government at every turn. This insurgency cannot carry on for another 25 years bleeding the country, and its people to a slow death.

War is not a pleasant thing, and there is no-one who yearns for peace more than the soldier at the front. In the long-term interests of the country, it would be more useful if there was greater international support rather than incessant censure, so as to end terrorism once and for all and concrete help in the rehabilitation of those forced into war against their will and the reconstruction of a shattered nation.