 | | | Priyanka Gandhi |
Priyanka Gandhi, the daughter of India's assassinated former prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi, has said her country needs to do all it can to help Tamil civilians trapped in the conflict in Sri Lanka. Miss Gandhi was speaking in a rare BBC interview while campaigning for the Congress party, although she is not herself a candidate in the Indian general election now underway. Priyanka Gandhi, whose father was assassinated by Tamil Tiger rebels from Sri Lanka, drew a distinction between the rebels and Tamil civilians. Their plight has attracted a lot of support in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, where the ruling party, an ally of the Congress-led national government, announced a twelve-hour closure of shops and businesses on Thursday as a gesture of support for Sri Lankan Tamils. | 
India's frustration with Sri Lanka over Tamils