Despite a strong call for establishing a no-fly zone in Libya by Britain, deliberations on the measure were still “very preliminary”, according to a top Indian envoy here, who stressed that key questions like “objective” and “assets” remain unanswered.

“Consideration for imposing a new-fly zone is still at a very preliminary stage,” Mr Hardeep Singh Puri, India’s ambassador to the UN, told PTI.

“There has been some mention but without clarity on what the objective would be. There is even less clarity on whether assets of imposing a no-fly zone would come from,” he said, stressing that no “formal proposal” was in front of the Security Council yet.

Britain and France are preparing a draft resolution on a potential no-fly zone in the strife-torn North African nation.

“It is a realistic possibility and it is a practical possibility. It has to have a clear legal base, it has to have the necessary international support, broad support in the region itself,’’ Britain’s Foreign Secretary Mr William Hague had said.

The Security Council was briefed on Tuesday on Middle East and North Africa in a closed-door session by the UN’s top political official Mr Lynn Pascoe.

“As we see in the battles that have been going on, clear actions are being taken against the people there, both in Tripoli and other cities,” he told journalists after the meeting.

“This is a matter of huge concern for all of us in the secretariat, certainly for the Security Council,” he said.

Responding to whether a no-fly zone was discussed at the meeting, Mr Pascoe said it was among the several issues that were part of a “serious and interactive discussion” on the role of the Security Council and Secretary-General Mr Ban Ki-moon’s office in face of the Libyan crisis.

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