COLOMBO: Sri Lanka said yesterday it planned to return most of the nearly 300,000 civilians displaced by civil war to their homes this year as the president called on the country to be magnanimous in victory.

The fate of the ethnic Tamil civilians in the overcrowded, fenced-in camps has caused great concern among the minority throughout the country. Aid groups say their access to the camps has been greatly restricted and human rights groups accuse Tamil militias of abducting children there.

India's foreign minister and national security advisor officials met with President Mahinda Rajapaksa to express their concerns about the humanitarian situation in the area.