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

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.