Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa is not planning to attend the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow this summer, according to a report on the insidethegames website.
The website says a “potentially harmful diplomatic challenge” for the games will likely be avoided if Rajapaksa stays away, after letters expressing concern about the Sri Lankan president’s visit were sent to Foreign Secretary by the shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander and the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam.
The article further said that Rajapaksa’s absence “would surely be a relief to [the Foreign Office and the Commonwealth], and would be one thing less to worry about ahead of the Games, set to begin on July 23”.
In his letter, Mr. Alexander warned the "world-class sporting celebration risks being overshadowed by questions raised by the possible attendance of Sri Lanka's president in his capacity as Chairperson-in-office of the Commonwealth."
The letter by the TGTE highlighted the "continued arrogance of the Rajapaksa regime to the international community and their non-conformance to the values and principles of the Commonwealth", as well as their "continued structural genocide on the Tamil Homeland and the use of the Sri Lankan army to colonise and seize land belonging to the Tamil population".
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