Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has announced that he will not be attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) meeting in Sri Lanka.

He is the first leader to have decided not to attend the meeting as he stated quite correctly that Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse and his government have to answer for human rights violations in Sri Lanka.

Such true and brave leaders are hard to come by. India will not boycott the summit as it hopes to play off China. India fears that if it does not attend the summit, as the regional big brother, Sri Lanka will move closer to China.

What India does not realise is that Sri Lanka has already moved close to China. India has little care or concern for the Tamils in Sri Lanka nor even the Tamils in Tamil Nadu. India alone can stop the human rights violations in Sri Lanka now. But India will fumble again, just as how it deals with Pakistan, Kashmir and China.

Closer to home, will Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak follow the Canadian prime minister's footsteps? It is highly unlikely because again, the Tamil sentiment and human rights issues are of little importance to Malaysia.

Malaysia will do all it can to please Sri Lanka to go for the spoils of war. Remember, it even allowed Rajapakse to come to Johor Baru for an economic forum in 2012.

As a result of pressure from the Tamils and other Malaysians, Rajapakse was asked not to attend. Rajapakse must answer war crimes charges he is accused of, even though no formal charge has been brought against him.

For leaders of the Commonwealth countries to attend the summit in Sri Lanka is a slap in the face of all peoples who love peace, democracy, good governance and justice.

More than 60,000 innocent civilians were killed by the armed forces of Sri Lanka Forces up to May 2009. Today there are open and covert attempts to inflict maximum damage on the Tamil community in North Sri Lanka.

The UN expert panel's report, the Channel 4 news on the killing fields of Sri Lanka, Navi Pillay's report as well as the recent documentary ‘No Fire Zone' are all irrefutable testimonies of the atrocities carried out by Rajapakse and the Sri Lanka security forces.

Any leader attending the summit on Sri Lankan soil will be a party to the atrocities by Sri Lanka.

I urge that the CHOGM be moved to another country or if is too late, to cancel it altogether, before the entire Commonwealth becomes tainted with the blood of innocent victims.

M MANOGARAN is the former Member of Parliament for Teluk Intan.