国际英语新闻:Indian PM to skip Commonwealth meeting in Colombo

NEW DELHI, Nov. 9 (Xinhua) -- Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will not attend the Commonwealth Summit to be held next week in Sri Lanka, reported local TV channel Times Now Saturday.

The prime minister made the decision after facing stiff opposition to his plan to attend the summit at home over alleged war atrocities of Sri Lankan army in its war against Tamil Tigers, the TV channel quoted unnamed sources as saying.

The Indian Minister of External Affairs Salman Khurshid will head the Indian delegation to the Colombo summit in stead, said the report.

The decision to skip the summit came after the Congress party's core group held a meeting Friday in Delhi, during which Defense Minister A.K. Antony and Finance Minister P. Chidambaram reportedly urged the prime minister not to go.

Prime Minister Singh will write to Sri Lankan President Rajapakse to convey his decision, said the TV report.

Some political parties in the southern state of Tamil Nadu has vehemently opposed the attendance by prime minister of the summit in Colombo, over alleged war atrocities against Tavmil civilians by the Sri Lankan army in the final days of civil against Tamil Tigers in 2009.

Thousands of innocent civilians were reportedly slaughtered by Sri Lankan army when it finally defeated the Tamil Tiger rebels.

A newly released video by a British TV channel showed Sri Lankan army gang raped a famous TV anchorwoman of the Tamil Tigers before killing her, triggering disgust and outrage in India.

India also complained that Colombo has failed to address the grievances of Tamils in northern Sri Lanka more than four years after the civil war ended.