New Delhi, Nov 11 – Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday wrote to Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, saying he is unable to personally attend the CHOGM Summit in Colombo from Nov 15, Press Trust of India (PTI) reported.
“The Prime Minister’s letter (to the Sri Lankan President) was delivered by the High Commission of India in Colombo. The Prime Minister informs that he is unable to attend personally.
“External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid will represent him at the meeting. Diplomatic process completed,” MEA spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said here.
However, it is believed that the letter, whose contents were not disclosed, does not talk about the reasons for Manmohan skipping the meet.
The Prime Minister has decided against undertaking the visit in view of the stiff opposition by parties in Tamil Nadu as well as a section in Congress.
External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid will now head the Indian delegation at the CHOGM Summit on Nov 15-16.
Political parties in Tamil Nadu and several other outfits have opposed India’s participation at any level in the CHOGM meet alleging that the Sri Lankan government had committed gross violation of human rights and had no plans to devolve powers to the ethnic Tamils.
However, Khurshid has been favouring Singh’s presence at the Summit of the 53-nation grouping, maintaining that it was vital as it will reflect India’s interests.
According to MEA, it is also paramount to the nation’s strategic and security interests.
In 10 summit-level meetings since 1993, the Prime Minister has represented India five times while on four occasions, ministers had headed the Indian delegation.
There was one instance of the Vice President representing India.
“So what you can summarise from this is that what we have followed in terms of participation in the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) is an approach of something akin to horses for courses.
“We focused on what is required for our national interest, our foreign policy priorities and our international obligations. Taking those into account we have our delegations led by different people,” the spokesperson had said.
Union Minister V Narayanasamy said the decision of the Prime Minister not to attend CHOGM “will go well with the people of Tamil Nadu”.
– Bernama
