Even as the Indian government meets a Lankan delegation to decide on the fate of MV Ali, a ship carrying aid to Sri Lanka - the ship`s crew have made a plea in public for the ship to be allowed to deliver its cargo of relief supplies to war-torn Lankan Tamils.

Kristjan Gu mundsson, a former member of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, who is onboard the vessel said though the vessel had no permission to anchor off the Chennai coast, it was in India`s best interests to address the concern over MV Ali`s cargo as India was involved `directly and indirectly`.

He said following their reaching Indian shores they had replenished their supplies of fresh water earlier depleted and thanked Indian authorities for the help but the new concern was for the crew to return to their respective families. He asked how food and medical supplies could be `political`, and said he could not understand why the problem appeared so difficult to solve since the aid was for noble purposes. He pleaded on behalf of the crew that the ship be allowed to discharge its cargo so the crew could return home.

We have been of course, at sea for almost 50 days... there is a little bit of strain on everybody especially as the crew should already have been with their families. We should have already discharged the cargo in Sri Lanka. The ship would have been in Calcutta and been handed over to the new owners and the crew should be back home, said Gu mundsson adding I would think that the mission has only a humanitarian goal and is addressing the situation which is affecting a part of India directly or indirectly. It should be a matter of concern in a positive way, and therefore a reason to solve the problem that has arisen concerning the cargo. That is my personal point of view.

The Central Government will be taking a decision today on the MV Captain Ali. A high level delegation of Sri Lankan officials will be meeting External Affairs Minister SM Krishna later today. A decision is expected to be taken after that meeting.

MV Captain Ali is a ship that is said to be carrying around 884 tonnes of aid including food, medicine and other relief materials for internally displaced Sri Lankan Tamils.

The Sri Lankan government has accused the NGO sending the aid of helping the LTTE and hence has sent back the relief ship.

The Lankan navy said that `Vanangaman,` a suspected LTTE run vessel, had set sail on April 20, 2009 from Ipswich, UK carrying the Mercy Mission`s cargo but it had changed its strategy for obvious reasons. The navy said Kristjan was an ex-SLMM naval monitor and the head of the SLMM`s Liason Office in Kilinochchi and, later, of its Jaffna office.

The `Vanangaman` had changed course and set sail for France, where it offloaded its cargo at Fecamp. The cargo had then been transported overland to the French port of Fos-Sur-Mer, and loaded on MV `Captain Ali` with an additional load of supplies. The second leg of the `Mercy Mission` had begun on the May 7, from the said port in France, with MV Captain Ali` carrying a cargo of 884 MT, the navy said.