"We made very clear to the Mauritian envoy that what is happening here is a genocide,"

Criticising international claims that recent Northern Provincial elections were a marker of progress and reconciliation, he said:

"If the international community is pointing to an unwanted provincial council, that was forced upon the Tamil people, as a sign of progress, then Rajapaksa and Sinhala nationalists will be reassured that no matter what they do, the world will always fall at their feet,"

Despite controversy over human rights overshadowing CHOGM in international media, Ponnambalam maintained that a boycott would have been the best option, saying:

"As far as Rajapaksa is concerned, the mere attendance of heads of government is a triumph in itself."

He also criticised Chief Minister C. V. Wigneswaran's for neglecting to emphasise in his '6 point proposal', that was put forward to UK Prime Minister David Cameron, the need for accountability for war crimes through an international investigation and a meaningful political solution for Tamil grievances. Maintaining that these two issues were "central to Tamil political demands", Ponnambalam further criticised the proposal as being tailored purely to expand the powers of the Northern Provincial council, which in turn would "undermine the nationhood of Tamils and entrench restraints on Tamil national politics set by the 13th amendment."

Listen to press conference in Tamil here.