Sri Lanka and the Commonwealth

I am grateful for the opportunity to comment in this important debate. The message that will have gone out clearly from this debate is that no hon. Member in this Chamber supports the violence. There have been condemnations of the LTTE as well. However, the most important thing, as the hon. Member for Mitcham and Morden (Siobhain McDonagh) said, is that we Members of Parliament must bear witness to oppressed minorities wherever they exist in the world. It is important to recognise that the Tamil minority in Sri Lanka is being oppressed by its Government. First, I want to press the Minister and ask about what action the Government are taking to impress on the Sri Lankan Government the need for capacity for evacuation for innocent women, children and men. He cannot have been deaf to the comment made by the representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross only last weekend:""The capacity for evacuation is far below the need…We have to decide to take the casualties who are more badlv injured and leave behind the ones who are less badly injured"," or leave behind people who are not injured at all who are then unwittingly used as human shields. The Tamil community is being abused in that way. The Government need to take direct action in respect of the Sri Lankan high commission in London to impress on it the need to allow the evacuation of innocent Tamil citizens. Secondly—the Sri Lankan Government should hear this—mercy missions are on their way from the community and from international organisations. I cite the mercy mission ship that could land in Vanni if the Sri Lankan Government allowed it to do so. Surely, if that Government had any humanity towards their citizens they would allow that ship to dock, for it has on it representations from the international community. This is not a ship that could in any way be called a front for terrorism; it would deliver much-needed food and medical aid to that area. The UK Government must stand up and make a representation to the Sri Lankan high commission on that point, as so many hon. Members who have contributed to this debate have done today. Thirdly, the Sri Lankan Government may be cautious about what Balasingham Nadesan said at the weekend, but unless they take the brave step towards a ceasefire, accept that the offer might be genuine and does not contain preconditions, and come to the table, there will be no political solution. The political solution is the only way forward, because a military solution cannot ever win. Equally, with a ceasefire, it should be incumbent on the Sri Lankan Government to accept international validation on certain points. The hon. Member for North Southwark and Bermondsey (Simon Hughes) made some telling remarks about the role of the Commonwealth, and all hon. Members in the Chamber will be listening to what happens. Fourthly, post-action and post-ceasefire, the UK Government must impress on the Sri Lankan Government that the ceasefire must include not only the LTTE, but all sections of the Tamil community. There is a role for the Tamil National Alliance, and other democratic people, in that process. Equally, the UK Government could suggest to the Government of Sri Lanka—tied in with their request for a ceasefire and the threat of suspension from the Commonwealth—that there could be a genuine international reconstruction fund. For if the Tamils are to be able to play a full part in the life of Sri Lanka, they will need not only the political solution but the economic solution. An international reconstruction fund would be a part of that process and the Commonwealth could lead it. If not, our Government should lead the process of putting that fund in place. I am aware of your strictures, Mr. Atkinson. Like so many other hon. Members I could speak for rather longer. I hope that the Minister will respond to those four points.