“Australia’s Attorney-General, Robert McClelland promptly quashed the case [against President Rajapaksa], claiming it breached domestic law and Australia's treaty pledges of diplomatic and sovereign immunity for visiting leaders.

“A smokescreen, of course, since domestic law does allow private war crimes prosecutions - if they are taken over by federal prosecutors and approved by the attorney-general.

A senior Sri Lankan diplomat says that "plans have been" made to thwart any attempts to bring out issues related to Colombo's human rights at the Commonwealth summit in Austrlia.

He said several Commonwealth countries have shown solidarity towards Sri Lanka and have dismissed those accusing Colombo of human rights violations.

The unnamed diplomat added:

Rather than resettling displaced Tamils, since the war ended, the Sri Lankan armed forces have occupied a further 7,000 sq km of land owned by Tamil people.

So what do the government’s claims of resettlement mean?

Amnesty International has called on the Commonwealth to block Sri Lanka from hosting the next Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in 2013 or risk becoming “irrelevant”.

The statement was released to mark the opening of the 2011 CHOGM in Perth, where Sri Lanka has come under increased pressure to deal with issues if war crimes and human rights.

Madhu Malhotra, Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific Deputy Director said,

Paul Dewar, a Member of Parliament and candidate for the leadership of the New Democratic Party in Canada, has released a statement urging the Commonwealth to hold Sri Lanka to account for alleged war crimes.

He joined Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper in his call for an independent investigation into war crimes in Sri Lanka and called to boycott the next CHOGM unless Sri Lanka had made progress on human rights.

Dr Gideon Boas, Associate Professor in the Monash University Law School and a former Senior Legal Officer at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, writes on Australia’s response to war crimes charges filed in a local court against Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa:

The Sri Lankan government dismissed human rights concerns raised by delegates at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Perth, Australia, this week as "propaganda" from the Eelam Tamil diaspora, referred to as the "LTTE rump".

Speaking on Thursday to the ABC news channel, the Sri Lankan president's spokesperson, Bandula Jayasekera, said,

"This is hearsay. These are mere allegations... we have ended 30 years of terror."