NEW DELHI: The Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Saturday asked the Manmohan Singh Government to continue the peace process with Pakistan and work for a breakthrough in an area in which an agreement could be reached.

CPI (M) general secretary Prakash Karat and Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury conveyed this to External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee at a briefing for the party leaders on the situation in India's neighbourhood. The briefing comes in the run-up to the meeting of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation in April.

The briefing is the sequel to a similar exercise the Government held for the Bharatiya Janata Party leaders earlier this week.

``We were briefed by the External Affairs Minister on the situation in our neighbourhood, especially in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal'' Mr. Karat told The Hindu after the briefing attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his colleagues.

Mr. Karat said the Government expressed concern over the situation in Bangladesh where the Awami League-led 14-party alliance had decided to boycott the general elections and the army was standing by.

In Sri Lanka, the concern was that any escalation in violence in Tamil areas would have an impact on India in the form of refugees. The suggestion was that efforts should be made to get the Liberation Tigers for Tamil Eelam back to the negotiating table.

On the situation in Nepal, the Government was watching the transition towards Interim Government, and the arrival of United Nations officials for putting in place the machinery for the agreements including arms control.

Mr. Mukherjee said he was going to Pakistan with an invitation for President Pervez Musharraf to the SAARC meeting.

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