Sri Lanka: Indian PM to skip SL Independence Day Celebrations
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Wednesday, 09 January 2008 |
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As Sri Lanka increased its military offensives against Tamils in the
North following the abrogation of the ceasefire, the Indian Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday virtually confirmed that he would not
visit Colombo next month for the 60th anniversary of Sri Lanka's
Independence Day on February 4. "I have not made up my mind", he said
when asked whether he would be traveling to Sri Lanka next month during
an interaction with journalists in New Delhi. According to reports in
the Indian media, the immediate provocation for India's ire was Sri
Lanka’s decision to abrogate the six year CFA without seeking to
negotiate with the Tamils.
Dr. Manmohan Singh was talking to journalists on the sidelines of a
function at Rashtrapati Bhavan, the Indian Presidential Office.
Sri
Lanka's Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama had informed Sri Lankan
Parliament that Manmohan Singh would be the chief guest at the
ceremony, and the Indian High Commissioner had sought to spare him
blushes by saying that the dates proposed by the Sri Lankan side were
not suitable. The Indian prime minister was more candid and his public
declaration of his indecision on the visit was a clear signal that he
strongly disapproved of the Mahinda Rajapaksa's government's escalation
of hostilities.
His response has been described by the India
media as "revealing since the prime minister's visits are hardly off
the cuff business and being part of Sri Lanka's Independence Day
celebrations would be planned well in advance."
Indian media
reports attributed The decision to the "strong pressure on the Indian
foreign policy establishment from Tamil Nadu, and the fear that Tamils
in Sri Lanka might once again become a factor in domestic politics."
The Indian government has been under increasing pressure from all
quarters, specially the Dravida Munneatta Kazhakam (DMK), the Congress
party's major southern ally. There were also spontaneous protests
against the prime minister's proposed visit from pro-Tamil nationalist
groups in Tamilnadu.
Another major ally, the Communist Party of
India (CPI) has also been vociferous in condemning the Sri Lankan
government's decision to pull out of the almost six-year-old ceasefire
with the LTTE. CPI National Secretary D Raja on Saturday had said that
"military solutions cannot defuse tension" in the island nation. He had
noted that the Withdrawal of ceasefire was tantamount to declaration of
war and hence the step was "not proper" and deserved to be "condemned
in the strongest terms."
Reportedly, there was "a sense of
relief" even in Congress circles that the PM was not likely to travel
to Sri Lanka. They saw it as an apt decision because if the controversy
snowballed, the party would have to face "belligerent allies" who were
concerned about the genocidal persecution of the Tamils in the island.
TamilNet
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