Indo-Lanka ties shouldn't be held hostage to PM skipping CHOGM: Salman Khurshid

NEW DELHI: Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid has played down suggestions that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s decision to stay away from the upcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Colombo would hurt India’s relations with Sri Lanka, as he underlined Delhi’s support and assistance to develop the war-ravaged nation.

There have been apprehensions that China and Pakistan would step up its presence in the island nation after the Singh decided to skip the meeting because of domestic political pressures. The two countries have been granted several critical infrastructure and government projects by the Rajapaksa government and are among principal defence suppliers to Sri Lanka.

Khurshid, who will lead the Indian delegation at the meeting and leaves for Colombo on Wednesday, listed several projects, including power and infrastructure, that India too has undertaken across Sri Lanka in its southern and northern regions. Delhi has provided a Line of Credit to Sri Lanka for capital goods, consumer durables, consultancy services and food items, supply of wheat and purchase of petroleum products.

India has also constructed 50,000 houses for minority Tamils in the Northern areas of the island nation and supported health, education and training programmes in Lanka.

The foreign minister told reporters India-Lanka investments are a “two-way traffic” and cannot be held hostage to “something”. He refused to term PM’s absence from CHOGM as a boycott. “The position we have taken is not of boycott.

The PM took a considered call factoring a lot of issues including his presence in the country ahead of assembly elections,” he said.

He reiterated that the prime minister had taken into considerations views of MPs and colleagues from Tamil Nadu while making the final decision. The foreign ministry and Khurshid had pitched hard for Singh’s participation at the meeting keeping in mind Sri Lanka’s strategic importance and the Tamil minority in the country.