A train carrying the Channel 4 news team, who were traveling to Kilinochchi, ground to a halt at Anuradhapura this morning, as it became mobbed by a crowd of over 100 protesters shouting and carrying placards in Sinhala.

“They're not giving my brother. We are not even allowed to catch a glimpse of him to know he's safe. Why are they not letting us see him? You allow so many Sinhalese to go, but you won't let Tamils go?"
 

“It may be astonishing to some that even on the eve of CHOGM, the Sri Lankan government feels free to abuse rights at the heart of the Commonwealth charter. But such government repression of civil society was expected."

"Commonwealth leaders must not just turn a blind eye.”

Australia’s Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop "should take care do not whitewash Sri Lanka's human rights record" by attending the Commonwealth summit in Colombo this week, a senior Human Rights Watch official said Wednesday.

In an opinion published in Australian newspapers, Elaine Peason, Deputy Director of HRW’s Asia Division, said:

“What is … regrettable is Australia's blindness to Sri Lanka's human rights concerns. Australia seems to be reluctant to admit human rights violations as a means of deflecting asylum claims of Sri Lankan Tamils coming to Australia by boat.

 

“However, in the long run what will really stem the flow of illegal migration from Sri Lanka is a government that respects the rights of its people.

 

“Australia can either choose to look the other way, implicitly endorsing Sri Lankan abuses, or it can use this opportunity to support efforts for accountability and democracy in Sri Lanka.

 

“British Prime Minister David Cameron will attend [the summit], but his government has said he will deliver a ‘tough message’. At a minimum, Abbott and Bishop should do the same.”

Writing in The Independent newspaper, Sandya Eknaligoda, wife of a Sri Lankan journalist who disappeared after criticising President Rajapaksa’s government, called on the international community to oppose Sri Lanka’s imminent chairmanship of the Commonwealth

In an opinion published Wednesday, acclaimed journalist J. S. Tissainayagam argued:

"If Cameron and other Commonwealth leaders are serious about making Sri Lanka accountable for war crimes and on-going human rights abuses they have to go beyond using clever terms like ‘engagement’ that actually do little. Enormous evidence of violations of the laws of war and human rights has been accumulated with painstaking care by the media – especially Channel Four and Frances Harrison for the BBC. This evidence has not been denied by the UK and other Commonwealth countries.

 

"What is left for Cameron is not to pose for photo ops with Rajapakse or warn him that “if Sri Lanka doesn’t deliver on an independent investigation, the world will need to ensure an international investigation is carried out instead.” Rather, it is to bring Sri Lanka and its leaders to justice ... by hastening an independent international inquiry and enforcing international law on war crimes, torture and rape."

One of the largest corporate donors to Britain's Conservative Party, and a key sponsor of the Commonwealth business event in Colombo this week, has been shown to have close links to the family of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

According to Corporate Watch, Hastings Trading e Serviços Lda, a company owned by the Lyca Group, bought a 95% share in a dormant firm registered with Rajapaksa's nephew, Himal Lalindra Hettiarachchi as reported by the Sunday Leader in 2009. The company went on to receive a key license to operate cutting-edge wireless broadband frequencies in Sri Lanka, forcing the state-owned telecoms company to merge.

Lycamobile has donated over £530,000 to the Conservative Party since 2007, becoming one of its largest corporate donors.

The firm is also one of the Gold Sponsors of the Commonwealth Business Forum, currently underway on the sidelines of the Commonwealth summit in Sri Lanka. Deals worth more than $2bn are expected to be sealed during the forum, according to the Colombo government.

It is craven for Australian Premier Tony Abbott to attend CHOGM without raising Sri Lanka's rights abuses, Emily Howie, Director of advocacy and research at the Human Rights Law Centre, said Wednesday.

In a statement, the Human Rights Law Centre, said:

"Australia must publicly acknowledge and condemn the human rights and rule of law crisis in Sri Lanka particularly given the escalation of international condemnation of Sri Lanka’s human rights record ahead of the Commonwealth [summit this week]."