Sri Lanka hand-delivers invite to PM amid tension over fishermen arrests
New Delhi: Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister GL Peiris arrived in the capital on Sunday to hand-deliver a personal invitation to Dr Manmohan Singh to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Colombo in November.
Mr Peiris said Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse deputed him to Delhi to convey the hope that India will be represented "at the highest level" for the summit.
Just days ago, tension with Colombo peaked over its arrests of more than 100 fishermen, many of them from Tamil Nadu. Mr Peiris said that the detainees will be tried in his country for entering Sri Lankan waters.
So the Prime Minister will have to weigh the potential fallout of a trip to Colombo among political parties in Tamil Nadu, who accuse his government of not doing enough to hold Sri Lanka accountable for alleged war crimes and human rights atrocities during the final phase of the island's civil war which ended in May 2009, with the army defeating the rebel Tamil Tigers or LTTE.
In March, the regional powerhouse DMK quit Dr Singh's coalition. Leaders of the Tamil Nadu party said that at a session of the UN on human rights in Geneva, India had failed to indict Sri Lanka of "genocide."
Human rights organisations and sections of the Tamil diaspora across the world have accused the Sri Lankan army of indiscriminately killing over 40,000 unarmed civilians, a charge Colombo has vehemently denied.
The Foreign Minister, however, made known his government's resentment against what he called "excessive interest and intervention from outside" in the internal affairs of Sri Lanka. "The Tamil diaspora has not given up on its dream of 'Eelam' ( a separate state) and despite the LTTE's military defeat, the diaspora is using its financial clout to try and isolate Sri Lanka," Mr Peiris charged.
Mr Peiris said Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse deputed him to Delhi to convey the hope that India will be represented "at the highest level" for the summit.
Just days ago, tension with Colombo peaked over its arrests of more than 100 fishermen, many of them from Tamil Nadu. Mr Peiris said that the detainees will be tried in his country for entering Sri Lankan waters.
In March, the regional powerhouse DMK quit Dr Singh's coalition. Leaders of the Tamil Nadu party said that at a session of the UN on human rights in Geneva, India had failed to indict Sri Lanka of "genocide."
Human rights organisations and sections of the Tamil diaspora across the world have accused the Sri Lankan army of indiscriminately killing over 40,000 unarmed civilians, a charge Colombo has vehemently denied.
The Foreign Minister, however, made known his government's resentment against what he called "excessive interest and intervention from outside" in the internal affairs of Sri Lanka. "The Tamil diaspora has not given up on its dream of 'Eelam' ( a separate state) and despite the LTTE's military defeat, the diaspora is using its financial clout to try and isolate Sri Lanka," Mr Peiris charged.
