Sri Lanka and the Commonwealth

Please, I have just two more points to make. The proposal to send in a UK special envoy, the right hon. Member for Kilmarnock and Loudoun (Des Browne), was vetoed. Where are we on that now? Is the right hon. Gentleman's name still on the table? Have the Sri Lankan Government given any indication of the terms on which they might allow him in? The final point concerns the role of the Commonwealth. It does seem strange that in the Commonwealth ministerial action group, the Government were represented only by a junior Minister. There may have been very good logistical reasons why the Foreign Secretary or the Minister of State could not be at that meeting, but given its importance in terms of policy towards Fiji, let alone towards Sri Lanka, I find that strange. Perhaps the Minister will answer that question. The message that the Sri Lankan Government should take from this debate, as they should have from the previous debate, is the unity of purpose within Parliament on this issue. They should also take from it the message that they are, ironically, damaging their case by the actions and policies that they are carrying out and that although they will succeed in the short term—there is no doubt about that—they will create such a hurricane of violence that their long-term hopes for a peaceful democratic Sri Lanka will not be realised.