NEW DELHI (AFP) - A senior Indian minister on Monday urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to boycott a Commonwealth summit in Sri Lanka over human rights abuses, joining opposition in government ranks to the trip.
Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan said she wanted Mr Singh to consider the "strong sentiments" of ethnic Tamils and stay away from the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (Chogm) in Colombo next week.
"I will write to the PM asking him to skip the Chogm meet," Ms Natarajan told reporters in Tamil, comments that were translated into English by national television networks.
"I have requested a meeting with the PM. I want to convey the strong sentiments of people of Tamil Nadu on his Sri Lanka visit," she said.
The minister, a member of the ruling Congress party, was speaking in Chennai, the capital of southern Tamil Nadu state, whose population shares close cultural and religious ties with Sri Lanka's ethnic Tamils.
Shipping Minister G. K. Vasan, who like Natarajan represents Tamil Nadu in the national Parliament, has also urged a boycott over claims thousands of mainly ethnic minority Tamils were killed in the final months of Sri Lanka's separatist war.
Leaders on both sides of Indian politics are wary of upsetting an important constituency in Tamil Nadu months before the country holds national elections.
India's foreign ministry spokesman said last week no final decision has been taken on whether Mr Singh will attend the November 15-17 meet.
The pressure on Mr Singh comes after Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper urged his counterparts in April to follow him in boycotting the meeting of the 53-nation bloc.
Colombo has resisted international pressure to probe its troops over allegations from rights groups that 40,000 civilians were killed in the final push against Tamil rebels in 2009.
Small political parties in Tamil Nadu including the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) have demanded India boycott the summit.
DMK split with the Congress-led coalition in March over the Indian government's perceived failure to condemn the alleged atrocities against Tamils in Sri Lanka.
"The DMK is totally opposed to India's presence at the summit. The Congress party will have to pay a heavy price for this," DMK spokesman T. M. Selvaganapathy said.
