Colombo, November 13
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 was not in any way a 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. — PTI