New Delhi: External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid has defended Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's decision of not attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meet (CHOGM) in Sri Lanka. He has said that it won't affect the India-Sri Lanka relations, and such calls have been taken in the past as well taking national interest in mind.
"It will not be right to think that there will be no more opportunity on India-Sri Lanka meet. There have been several occasions when the Prime Minister has not represented nations keeping in view the national interests," said Khurshid.
Meanwhile, DMK chief M Karunanidhi on Saturday expressed relief after the Centre decided that the Prime Minister will not go to Colombo to attend the CHOGM. Karunanidhi, however, said the participation of Khurshid in the event was debatable.
Earlier, Karunanidhi had said, "The Prime Minister has a conscience, it is enough if he acts according to his conscience. I did not threaten on withdrawing support. It's been long time since we withdrew our support."
Sources in the government say that the decision will be formally communicated to Sri Lanka in the next 24 hours through a letter.
An announcement of the decision is likely after the Prime Minister calls the CCPA meet on Sunday or Monday. The Tamil Nadu political parties and the Congress leaders from the state have been pressuring the PM not to visit Colombo. They have been campaigning that Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has violated all human rights during the war with LTTE and the Lankan government should be charged with war crimes. The Tamil Nadu Assembly had also recently adopted a resolution demanding a complete boycott of the event alleging that Sri Lanka had indulged in atrocities against ethnic Tamils.
Union ministers V Narayanasamy, Jayanthi Natarajan and GK Vasan had too publicly opposed the Prime Minister's participation in the summit. Although MEA has been favouring Singh's visit to Sri Lanka for CHOGM, maintaining that it was vital for him to be present at this meet as it will reflect India's interests and is also paramount to the nation's strategic and security interests. The officials were also keen that the Prime Minister takes the opportunity to visit Northern Province where India has given lot of assistance.
The Sri Lankan High Commissioner to India Prasad Kariawasam had warned India that the nations which don't attend will be isolated. Some veteran diplomats feel that surrendering before the Tamil parties will actually harm India's standing in the Common Wealth.
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