Pranab not to attend Saarc meet

NEW DELHI: In a development that is being linked to the internal political climate, external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee will not attend the Saarc ministerial meeting, which is to take place in Colombo on February 27.
In a last minute change of plans, Mr Mukherjee has canceled his trip to Colombo to attend the 31st council of ministers meeting. Instead, minister of state for external affairs E Ahamed will represent India at the meeting where the issue of terrorism and economic and financial cooperation are expected to dominate the discussions.

The meeting is important as it will set the agenda for the Saarc summit, especially on the terror front. Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa is set to address the council of ministers session as Sri Lanka is the current chair of Saarc. The cancellation is being attributed to Mr Mukherjee���s heavy workload on the political and economic front.

The multilateral ministerial meeting in Colombo also comes at a time when Tamil Nadu has erupted in violent protests in support of the Lankan Tamil cause. Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi is in a tough position trying to control the situation from getting out of hand while striking a balance.

His job has become tougher as there is no longer any ambiguity about where the Central government stands on the Lankan issue.

In spite of demands from the Tamil parties, including ally PMK, to stop the Lankan military offensive through a ceasefire, Mr Mukherjee has said that the Indian government cannot force a ���sovereign government to take a particular action���.

In a suo motu statement in Parliament, Mr Mukherjee had pointed out that the LTTE is a banned organisation and said that the only way out is for the LTTE to lay down its arms and surrender to the Lankan Army.

He also said that the LTTE had done disservice to the Lankan Tamil community. Anyway, the Rajapaksa government has turned down an LTTE plea for a ceasefire in the Wanni region saying that the rebel organisation has to agree to an unconditional surrender.

What the Indian government has said it will do is to push Mr Rajapaksa to find a political solution to the ethnic issue and give devolution to the Tamil areas and help Tamil civilians caught in the fighting. Mr Mukherjee has already announced plans to launch rehabilitation projects in the Tamil areas that have been freed from LTTE control. India has nothing more to add on the issue.

Meanwhile, India at the Saarc meeting had also been looking at pushing the anti terror agenda with Pakistan. But Pakistani foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi will not be attending the meeting either.

Ahead of the ministerial meetings, official and foreign secretary-level meetings will take place between India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Nepal, Maldives, Bhutan and Sri Lanka.