Under immense pressure from Tamil parties, the Indian government has decided that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh won’t go to Colombo to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meet (CHOGM), Indian media reported, quoting government sources.

Sources in the government say that the decision will be formally communicate to Sri Lanka in the next 24 hours through a letter. An announcement of the decision is likely after the Prime Minister calls the CCPA meet on Sunday or Monday, CNN-IBN reported.  

A crucial meeting of the Congress core group saw the PM’s visit being opposed on the grounds of the Sri Lankan government not honouring commitments to address the political demands of Tamils in the northern part of the island nation.

The opposition of senior members of the core committee like finance minister P Chidambaram is a setback to efforts to facilitate Singh’s visit to Colombo, considered to be necessary for strategic and foreign policy considerations.

Though there was no formal announcement, the PM’s visit to Sri Lanka for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting that begins on November 15 seems almost ruled out, Times of India reported.

Tamil Nadu political parties and the Congress leaders from the state have been pressuring the PM not to visit to Colombo. They have been campaigning that the Sri Lankan government has violated human rights during the war with LTTE and that it should be charged with war crimes.

The Sri Lankan High Commissioner to India Prasad Kariyawasam had warned India that the nations which don’t attend will be isolated. Some veteran diplomats feel that surrendering before the Tamil parties will actually harm India’s standing in the Commonwealth.

But the Congress is scared of losing its alliance partner DMK (currently not a member of the UPA) in an all important election year. The Prime Minister has come under intense pressure over his visit to the island nation.

“The Prime Minister has a conscience, enough if acts according to his conscience. I did not threaten on withdrawing support. It’s been long time since we withdrew our support,” DMK chief Karunanidhi said.

Political parties and various groups in Tamil Nadu are strongly opposed to India’s participation in the summit and the Tamil Nadu Assembly recently adopted a resolution demanding a complete boycott of the event alleging that Sri Lanka has indulged in atrocities against ethnic Tamils.