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Monday Oct 07, 2024
Saturday, 23 November 2013 09:06 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Debating the UK Prime Minister David Cameron’s decision to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHIGM) in Colombo in the House of Lords Thursday, Lord Parekh commended the PM for the stand he took at CHOGM in Sri Lanka.
“He was right to go. I think that the Prime Minister of India was not right not to go. Our Prime Minister was right to visit Jaffna, commiserate with the Tamils, condemn the army operations which killed thousands of Tamils, demand an investigation into what actually happened during the war and afterwards, and meet the representatives of the Tamil group,” he said. Baroness Warsi, the Senior Minister of State, Department for Communities and Local Government & Foreign and Commonwealth Office, said the Prime Minister was right to attend the meeting in Colombo since “not talking to people is never the answer”. “By going, the Prime Minister shone a spotlight on the situation there, and he was the first foreign leader to visit the north of the country since 1948. Because of his decision, journalists were granted access that would otherwise have been impossible to gain, and the local people - the families of the missing -were given an international voice,” she said.
The Minister said the PM was bold and blunt in his views and had a “frank and tough” meeting with the Sri Lankan President.
During the meeting, the PM clearly set out the need for Sri Lanka to make further progress in a number of areas, including a credible and transparent independent investigation into allegations of war crimes, Baroness Warsi said adding that the talks also covered a meaningful political settlement with the north, including demilitarisation, and proper implementation of the range of Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission recommendations. “If the Sri Lankan Government fails to do this, the UK will fully back an international investigation,” the Baroness stressed.
“However, I accept that more needs to be done, not just in Sri Lanka but to ensure that the principles of the Commonwealth Charter are applied by the countries of the Commonwealth,” she emphasised.
The Sri Lankan Government has flatly rejected Cameron’s call for an independent investigation and the March 2014 deadline saying that Sri Lanka has already set mechanisms in place to address the issues the PM raised and will take more than four years to achieve resolutions to the issues from a 30-year war.
The Indian Government yesterday criticised Cameron’s ultimatum saying that it is counterproductive and not their style of handling such issues.
