Hillary to visit Chennai, but mum’s the word on Sri Lanka

(Rediff): United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who will make her first-ever visit to Chennai after co-chairing the second US-India Strategic Dialogue in New Delhi on 19 July with her counterpart External Affairs Minister S. M. Krishna, will not discuss any foreign policy issues while in the Tamil Nadu state, specifically Sri Lanka, senior diplomatic sources have said.

The island-nation, incidentally, is under tremendous US pressure to allow for a United Nations-led investigation into alleged war crimes during the final months of the conflict with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

These sources, briefing on the agenda and priorities of the Strategic Dialogue as well as Clinton’s maiden trip to Chennai — the first by a US secretary of state — said the visit would be "strictly non-governmental" where Clinton would meet with leaders of civil society and policy wonks on development issues, mainly from nongovernmental organisations, and also meet representatives of leading American companies that are situated in this manufacturing hub, like Caterpillar and Ford, and business groups.

For years Ford has maintained an automobile manufacturing plant in Chennai and the Figo built there now serves not only the domestic market but also the export market.