British Tamils call for putting pressure on Lanka

The Tamil community in Britain is mounting pressure on the British establishment to compel Sri Lanka to an early reconciliatory action.
Shadow Foreign Minister Douglas Alexander at a meeting with the British Tamils was told to put pressure on Prime Minister David Cameron to seek an international inquiry in Sri Lanka by breaking the March, 2014, deadline, British media reports said.
Cameron during his historical visit to Jaffna mid- November said his government would work with the UN Human Rights Commissioner to seek an independent international investigation into alleged war crimes committed by the Sri Lankan troops during the last phase of the military conflict against the LTTE.

He said such an inquiry would be pursued if Sri Lanka failed to set up its own mechanism by March.
During the meeting, Alexander said that his opposition Labour Party will not let the Sri Lankan issue of accountability and reconciliation rest and will urge Cameron immediately to join calls for an international inquiry into human rights and cut short the deadline of March, 2014, that he had set for Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
Alexander's meeting was attended by many Tamil groups such as Tamil Information Centre, the Global Tamil Forum, Tamils for Labour, Tamils Against Genocide, British Tamils Forum, Hindu Temples, Tamil National Alliance and Tamil Youth Organisation.

Sri Lankan government dismisses such groups as remnants of the LTTE and charges British politicians of using the Lankan issue for their domestic electoral politics.