India's presence in CHOGM not dilution of stand on Tamils

Colombo: Ignoring demands from political parties in Tamil Nadu for a total boycott, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid arrived here today for the CHOGM summit, making it clear that India's participation is not in any way dilution of its stand on Tamils in Sri Lanka. India remains committed to the welfare of Sri Lanka's ethnic Tamils and would have to remain engaged with Sri Lanka in the “enlightened national interest”, Khurshid told reporters accompanying him on a special IAF aircraft. Putting conditions like India must not have anything to do with Sri Lanka would make things untenable, he added. Khurshid was given a warm welcome on flying into the Sri Lankan capital with Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh and other officials for a five-day visit.He said though he was in Colombo to attend a multilateral conference and not for a bilateral engagement, he would have the opportunity on the sidelines of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting to convey India's views and concerns to the Sri Lankan government on issues like devolving more powers to Tamils and attacks on Indian fishermen in the seas off Sri Lanka.Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who was planning to attend the three-day summit beginning on Friday, was last week forced to call off his plans because of competitive politics in Tamil Nadu and fear of isolation of the Congress party in the state ahead of next year's elections.Against the backdrop of an unanimous resolution passed by the Tamil Nadu Assembly last night, the second in recent times, demanding a total boycott of CHOGM by India, Khurshid said he was “perplexed” by the demand.“We are doing a lot for Tamils of northern areas in Sri Lanka. We are involved in a big project of building 50,000 houses (in war-ravaged areas), laying roads and erecting infrastructure. Nobody is saying you should not be doing this,” he said.Five thousand of the houses in the northern areas have already been constructed.“If we are not here, how can we be doing these things. Therefore, I am perplexed by the people who say we should not go to Sri Lanka. I find this logic somewhat...My job is to look into and represent in India's enlightened national interest,” he said.Khurshid was replying to questions on the Tamil Nadu Assembly resolutions and the demand of political parties in the state that no one from India should attend the CHOGM in view of “gross human rights” violations against civilians during the last phase of the war on the LTTE and in light of the Sri Lankan government's refusal to devolve powers to the provincial council in Tamil-dominated Jaffna. The External Affairs Minister will attend the pre-summit meeting of CHOGM foreign ministers today and tomorrow and represent India at the summit.Asked how he would answer critics at home about his presence, Khurshid said he dealt with foreign policy and not deal the politics of it.He said even yesterday politicians from Tamil Nadu, whom he did not identify, pleaded with him to take up with the Sri Lankan government the release of fishermen from the state arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy and the issue of attacks on them.“How do I tell Sri Lanka (these things) if I can't go there,” he said.To another question, he said the worst has to be put behind and “at this moment we have to start afresh”. Khurshid said India has invested a lot in the welfare of Sri Lanka's ethnic Tamils and an elected government has been successfully put in place in the northern areas. It was India's duty to make it successful politically and economically, he added.“We remain committed to doing this,” he said. It was also India's duty to ensure devolution of more powers to Tamil areas under the constitutional mandate and the Indo-Sri Lanka accord, he said “How will we do all this if we will not be there,” Khurshid asked.Asked about the Prime Minister's inability to visit Sri Lanka, especially to honour the invitation of newly elected Chief Minister of Northern Provincial Council, C S Wigneswaran, Khurshid wondered how the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister would feel if a similar invitation by her is spurned. Khurshid said economic cooperation between the two countries was good, with investments being made mutually in both sides.Asked about fears in India over growing Chinese investments in Sri Lanka, he said he was not concerned about Sri Lanka's dealings with other countries. “They have a right to deal with other countries. Why should we be worried about it. I think we must have the confidence in our dealings with Sri Lanka and it is for us to remain engaged with them,” he said.