[By Sujeeva Nivunhella in London, Sunday Island Online, 07 March, 2010]
Britain’s Conservative Party run the risk of losing votes from Sinhala community in the United Kingdom at the forthcoming General Election after Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague addressed a meeting of the pro-LTTE Global Tamil Forum at the Gladstone Hall in House of Commons recently.
A considerable number of Sinhalese in UK have openly criticized William Hague’s for his "biased speech" at the Forum and Sri Lankan High Commissioner in London Nihal Jayasinghe has already sent a letter to Hague expressing his displeasure.
In his letter to Hague, the High Commissioner pointed out that the aim of the GTF was to divide the country and win autonomy for Tamils. He also pointed out that the LTTE waged a bloody war for 30 years and introduced the culture of suicide bombing.
The High Commissioner reminded him that the Sri Lankan Government has already settled a large number of displaced Tamils in the North and the remaining 70,000 or so would be resettled once the de-mining is completed. He stressed there were no war crimes committed by the Government, anyone who accuses Sri Lanka should tcome with the evidence to support such claims.
He pointed out that suspending GSP+ would hurt the poorest of the poor and not anybody else.
Jayasinghe reminded Hague that when UN moved a resolution against the invasion of Falklands, Sri Lanka was one of the eleven countries which voted against it.