Same old stuff without the salt and pepper

The Mother of Parliaments is either reaching its sell by date or the British bulldog has lost its growl. The Commons debate on Sri Lanka last Thursday seemed more like an afternoon meeting of the British dinner ladies than the robust debating chamber we had come to expect from the elected representatives.

Even the presence of supporters of Tamil Eelam led by a former borough mayor Yogan Yoganathan and a councillor woman called Mann in the gallery did not seem to enthuse their Parliamentary gladiators on the floor who seemed as dull as last week’s parippu.

One might have expected a little more energy from the sympathisers of the Tamil cause especially with the Sri Lankan envoy and her High Commission flock providing a countervailing force to councillor Mann manning the barricades in the next gallery, but Simon Hughes who initiated the debate was nothing but listless.

All the bluster and baloney he produced seven months ago when he called for the lifting of the ban on the LTTE and the taming of the Sri Lankan Government seemed to have vanished like their publicity stunt to invite the LTTE’s then political leader to address the Commons.

Instead Simon Hughes, the president of the Lib Dems was addressing his own flock of about a 100 sympathisers who had fled the gallery at the end to listen to Hughes outside trying to whip up some enthusiasm after his own colourless performance. Whereas last May invective poured from every pour as Keith Vaz, Simon Hughes and his colleague Edward Davey lambasted the Sri Lanka Government for human rights violations, unleashing a war on the Tamils and refusing to open peace negotiations, on Thursday they recycled most of the same arguments but without the venom manifest earlier.

It seemed that those who led the debate were more deferential and defensive as though they had been somehow deflated. The fact that the day before the LTTE had blown up a bus and then shot the fleeing passengers including children was hardly the context in which to wave the Eelam flag.

But the theme that ran through most of the speeches was that peace talks must be restored, a UN presence was necessary to monitor human rights and the international community, especially Britain should help bring about a settlement in a beautiful country whose people of all communities had contributed significantly to British life.

It was left to Foreign Office Minister Kim Howells, no stranger to Sri Lanka, to set the contours of British policy. With the Sri Lanka Government dumping the ceasefire agreement and LTTE leader Prabhakaran sounding the war drums last November there is “little substance around which to base negotiations.”

Having said that, Howells made two significant points.“We have called on the President urgently to take a bold and courageous lead from this foundation (the commitment to address Tamil grievances) to set out a framework for a just solution within a united Sri Lanka that satisfies the legitimate aspirations of all Sri Lankans.” The other concerned the LTTE.

“I do not believe,” he said, “that those in the LTTE who advocate the use of murder and terrorism represent the hopes and aspirations of the majority of Tamils in Sri Lanka and around the world. The LTTE must renounce terrorism and demonstrate a real commitment to democratic principles if it is to be regarded internationally as a legitimate political movement.”This is the second time in seven months he has said this. It seems the considered view of the British Government.