The British Premier, David Cameron, briefing the House of Commons on his trip to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), reiterating his calls for a credible, independent and international inquiry into Sri Lanka's war crimes should Colombo fail to undertake its own by March.

Following Cameron's summary of his CHOGM trip, the House of Commons embarked on an extensive discussion regarding the issues Tamils faced in Sri Lanka.

“Unfortunately, the Indian Prime Minister was not here; that is my only concern.”

“He is the closest friend we have. Had he come here, he would have run the show.”

“We Asians, we like Indians. He should have been here.”

Channel 4 News reporter, Jon Snow described his experience of the Commonwealth summit in Sri Lanka and its build up as ‘trouble in paradise’.

See extracts form the blog post below.

“This turned out to be the worst attended Commonwealth leaders’ summit on record. 25 of the 53 presidents or prime ministers stayed away.”

“Hence the entire summit proved a strange event indeed.”

The Economist in a blog post today, summarised findings from the hosting of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Sri Lanka.

See extracts below.

“International coverage focused heavily focused on disappearances of people during and after the civil war, media suppression and persistent allegations that war crimes were committed in 2009 as Tamil Tiger rebels were crushed.”

Speaking in a new documentary on the genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka, a former doctor in the North-East, outlined his experience of being captured and imprisoned at the end of the ethnic conflict in 2009.

David Cameron was urged today to conduct an investigation into why the Conservative party received over £420000 from a telecoms company that has close links to Sri Lanka’s president, Lycamobile.

Speaking to the Huffington Post UK, Labour MP Tom Blenkinsop, said,

"Does anyone specifically have a question that's not on Sri Lanka or human rights?" the media spokesman for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting implored journalists at a press conference held by host president Mahinda Rajapaksa.

 

The normally diplomatic Richard Uku had just unwittingly summed up a CHOGM that can only be described as extraordinary for all the wrong reasons

 

Most CHOGM attendees have refrained as far as possible from embarrassing Mr Rajapaksa over questions about his regime's human rights record. Much of the talk at CHOGM focussed on Sri Lanka's positives, especially its promising post-conflict economic prospects.

 

But British prime minister David Cameron broke ranks. ...

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has defended giving military hardware to a country the United Nations has accused of war crimes, saying the gift of two ships to stop people smuggling will "preserve lives at sea".

But critics say this is ‘collaboration’ with a regime that has come under fierce criticism for its human rights record.