Mr Pamuk and Miss Desai have not made any public comment

Shyam Selvadurai, the curator of the Festival said the Indian High Commission has been “extremely helpful” in arranging re-entry visas for Nobel prize winning Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk.

Mr Pamuk and his partner, Booker prize winner Kiran Desai, have announced that they will not be attending the GLF to be held from 26 January in Galle.

The announcement was made after the press freedom group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and exiled Sri Lankan journalists network Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka (JDS) launched a joint appeal against their participation.

The appeal was signed by internationally renowned writers; Noam Chomsky, Arundathi Roy and Ken Loach, Antony Loewenstein and Tariq Ali.

'Highly disturbing'

The two groups said they found it “highly disturbing” that literature is being celebrated in a country “where cartoonists, journalists, writers and dissident voices are so often victimized by the current government.”

The Indian High Commission (in Colombo) has been wonderful. They have moved every possible way to assure Mr Pamuk and Miss Desai that they can return to India Shyam Selvadurai, Festival Curator

But the Festival founder Geoffrey Dobbs says their non-participation is due to Indian re-entry visa restrictions.

“We have been trying to resolve the issue with the Indian Immigration Authorities for the last three weeks but it has just not been possible,” a press release issued by Mr Dobbs said.

Shyam Selvadurai, however, confirmed Indian government’s statement to Hindu newspaper that India waived visa re-entry restrictions on writers Orhan Pamuk others.

“The Indian High Commission (in Colombo) has been wonderful. They have moved every possible way to assure Mr Pamuk and Miss Desai that they can return to India,” he told Jeyapragash Nallusamy of BBC Tamil service.

“But they have remained unassured. That is something beyond our control and beyond the control of the Indian government,” Mr Selvadurai added.

He said, however, the non attendance “has nothing to do” with the boycott appeal by the RSF and JDS.

The BBC could not contact two writers who are currently attending Jaipur Literature Festival in India.