May 12, Colombo: Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said India would continue to provide financial aid to Sri Lanka for rehabilitation and reconstruction of the war-ravaged Tamil dominated northern areas.

Delivering the inaugural address at a two-day seminar on Sri Lanka in New Delhi on Tuesday, Ms. Rao has pointed out that the Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh has announced an assistance package of rupees 500 crore (about 100 million dollars) for the rehabilitation and resettlement of the North last year.

"We have in addition extended the lines of credit worth 416 million dollars for the restoration of railway infrastructure and other infrastructure projects in northern Sri Lanka. Another 382 million dollars are in the pipeline," India's Asian News International (ANI) quoted Rao as saying.

"The end of military conflict in Sri Lanka has presented the country with many challenges, and we should not underestimate any of these challenges. The most immediate among them is the plight they have come out from after decades of conflict in northern and eastern Sri Lanka, scarred by their experience and seared by violence in their daily lives," she had added.

In October last year, India offered Sri Lanka US$ 100 million to help return war refugees home and rebuild the country's embattled North.

A similar aid package was given by New Delhi in July 2009, after the Sri Lankan Government announced victory in the 25-year war against Tamil Tiger separatists.

The Indian government faces pressure to protect Sri Lankan Tamils, closely linked to about 60 million Tamils in Tamil Nadu.