The Tamil National Party (TNA) spokesperson Suresh Premachandran denied the party was aware of a meeting between TNA MP MA Sumanthiran, the GTF's Suren Surendiran and representatives of the Sri Lankan government, alongside "other stakeholders" in London.

Speaking to the Colombo Mirror, Mr Premachandran the secret nature of such meetings “has resulted in creating a fear whether these people are working against the Tamil people”.

“I am the official spokesman of the TNA and I state with full responsibility that the TNA leaders have neither discussed about this meeting nor approved anyone to attend it on its behalf. Sumanthiran may have attended this meeting in his private capacity or as the member of the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi (ITAK), but certainly not as a representative of the TNA. It is a blatant lie,” he said.

Mr Sumanthiran, in an interview with Deepam TV, said the TNA leadership was aware and sanctioned the meeting. A press release sent from an official TNA email address on Monday also stated it was the TNA that participated in the meeting.

“We don’t know what exactly they discussed there, but the time has come for TNA leader R. Sampanthan to tell the truth and clear the doubts in the minds of the Tamil people. Such secret activities will result in creating fears and hatred among the people at a time of an election,” Mr Premachandran said.

“Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera who convinced the UNHRC to defer the releasing of the UN-led war crime probe report is one of the participants. Considering the timing of the meeting and the ground political realities, we fear that the meeting could favour Sri Lankan government, which looks to neutralise the international pressure on the accountability issue by seemingly engaging the local and diaspora Tamils and turning their opinions towards it,” he said.

In a joint press statement, Mr Sumanthiran and Mr Surendiran said they were continuing to hold an “informal dialogue the last two days in London with various stakeholders to enhance confidence building measures between all communities within and outside Sri Lanka.”

“The Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Mangala Samaraweera was also present,” they said.

Mr Premachandran told journalists yesterday that the lack of transparency meant that observers could only assume that the meetings were to save the previous regime from an international inquiry.