Ahead of the UK general election, the leader of the Tamil National People Front leader, Gajen Ponnambalam MP attended the British Tamil Conservatives annual reception at the British Conservative Party conference.
The conference was held on Monday at the Midland Hotel in Manchester and was attended by over 200 participants.
Ponnambalam spoke on the genocide committed against Eelam Tamils.
A number of cabinet members, ministers, members of parliament, and councilors attended the event and declared their support for accountability and justice and thanked the British Tamil Conservatives and the Tamil community for their contributions.
The event was hosted by the Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils, Elliot Colburn MP.
Chair of the Conservative Convention, Peter Smallwood, delivered the first of many speeches.
Former Leader of the Conservative Party and MP for Chingford Rt. Hon. Ian Duncan Smith declared “Crime of all crimes is Genocide. What has happened in Sri Lanka is, without question, another Genocide. We need to hold that up, there is no running away from it”.
Former Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and MP for Chipping Barnet, Theresa Villiers expressed her disappointment with lack of accountability stating “It is quite frankly a real scandal that nobody has been brought to justice for the terrible crimes committed during the civil war.”
Paul Scully, Minister for London and Digital Technology praised the Tamil community for their contributions and added: “You do so much to make sure our economy, our society, our community thrive”.
Greg Hands, Chairman of the Conservative party expressed similar sentiments and thanked the BTC for raising Tamil issues and supporting the party.
Elliot Colburn Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils in his speech declared his support for those who are fighting for justice, peace and accountability.
Commenting on the reception event, a BTC Secretary Gajan Raj stated that “the event was a huge success and continued to create awareness of the challenges Tamils face in Sri Lanka and reiterated the need for the Conservative Party to continue supporting the Tamils in their quest for justice”
