“The meek and pusillanimous response of the Indian government to these repeated instances of apprehension have emboldened the Lankan Navy to illegally arrest and detain more and more of our fishermen”.

Ananthy Sasitharan, a member of the Northern Provincial Council and prominent human rights activist in the Tamil northeast of Sri Lanka, has been threatened and intimidated since organising a demonstration during British Prime Minister David Cameron’s visit to Jaffna.

Ms Sasitharan has filed a petition with the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, and said others who were protesting with her have also been threatened.

"I do not need to recite the appalling human rights abuses that have taken place in Sri Lanka. I strongly support the prime minister in his calls for an international independent inquiry.”

"However, against that human rights background, the house will wish to consider the British government's arms export licence approvals in just nine months of last year. They included 100 pistols, 130 rifles, 210 combat shotguns, 600 assault rifles, unknown quantities of small arms ammunition and unknown quantities of machine guns.

"I think the Sri Lankan government owes a responsibility and a duty to its own people and the people all over the world to investigate the allegations of human rights violations and punish those who are responsible."

"That's an aspiration or a desire that recognises no national boundaries. It is a human rights issue."

“is indeed accountable, they must be held accountable, and they must bring to book those perpetrators to justice".

The committee expressed concern regarding strong evidence that suggested police and army forces were responsible for several cases of threats and intimidation against human rights workers, in the lead up and after the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).

Extracts from the letter, which also included descriptions of individual cases of intimidation, are reproduced below.

“The competent authorities in the higher echelons of the Security Sector claim that the Government restored peace and security to the citizens of this country, but it is not so practically. The security excesses, CID threats and intimidation continue to be the order of civil routine almost daily.”

“Civil Organisations and their workers face threats and intimidation by various types from the intelligence side varying from warning to telephone threats, extortion and intimidation. Even the people affected in various forms expressing their grievances, objections or protests in the internationally accepted democratic way and peaceful resistance are not tolerated in this Country.”