IT is a disgrace that David Cameron has decided to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Conference in Colombo in November, also unfortunate that the Queen has consented to be present.

The on-going situation in Syria has parallels with Sri Lanka. The actions of the Sri Lankan government and military in slaughtering thousands of innocent civilians including women and children in refugee camps, and summary execution of captured combatants and their family members are well documented, as is also the continuing persecution, and murder of Lankan journalists and human rights activists.

Given the historic role played by Britain in upholding human rights in other parts of the world and its readiness to intervene militarily to oppose tyrannical regimes, the presence of a British Prime Minister and the Queen in Colombo will be taken by those present as exonerating the Lanka government of its war crimes.

This would also give wrong signals to Burma and other countries in the region where minority ethnic and linguistic groups continue to be persecuted.

The British Commonwealth has disgraced itself by not condemning the actions of the Sri Lankan government and military in recent years, and that of Mugabe in Zimbabwe in the past. It has lost its moral high ground. For all intents and purposes it serves no useful purpose and should cease to exist.

– Venk Shenoi, Blaisdon.