Reacting to revelations that a trip by British MPs to Sri Lanka was cancelled at the eleventh hour on Thursday, the British Tamil Forum (BTF) urged UK politicians to be wary of being co-opted by the Sri Lankan government into whitewashing its rights abuses.
“It is important that the UK politicians realise the serious nature of the crimes that Sri Lanka is trying to cover up by using them in its propaganda,” BTF representative S.A.N Rajkumar told Tamil Guardian.
“I am not surprised that the trip has been called off – the MPs have had a narrow escape as their visit would have been a propaganda coup for the government” at a time of intense international attention on Sri Lanka’s rights abuses, he said.
He pointed out that the planned trip by British MPs and some of their spouses coincided with Sri Lanka’s refusal this week to cooperate with a UN probe into wartimes atrocities.
“Only a few days ago, the Sri Lankan government declared it would not let UN investigators enter the country to speak to victims and witnesses. Last week it banned several Tamil diaspora organisations that have been speaking out against its abuses. They [government] are determined to stop evidence of the crimes against the Tamil people getting out.”
“This luxury holiday, apparently organised by a known supporter of the regime, was intended to have British politicians unsuspectingly launder the government's abysmal record by carrying home the state's narrative about what’s going on there,” he said.
He was referring to the funding of the trip, including business class travel, by former cricketer Muttiah Muralitharan’s charity, Foundation of Goodness, during which the MPs were to meet with senior Sri Lankan ministers and officials and President Mahinda Rajapaksa.