A petition by Amnesty International in India, signed by over 1.4 million Indians, has been handed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s office on Friday.

In its editorial on Thursday, The Guardian newspaper, called a row "over the unwisdom of choosing Sri Lanka as host of the next heads of government meeting".

See here. Reproduced in full below:

The Commonwealth is an organisation which normally bumps along well under the radar. What bounces it into prominence is a row. And the Commonwealth has a history of good rows, over issues that matter, like apartheid in South Africa, judicial murder in Nigeria or dictatorship in Zimbabwe, and on which it has been able to make a difference. Such moments make everyone pay attention to a body that many rather lazily think is not that relevant any longer. Few will remember, for instance, that this Monday is Commonwealth Day.

The Commonwealth is about due for another row, and indeed it desperately needs to have one on the unwisdom, weekly becoming more obvious, of choosing Sri Lanka as host for the next heads of government meeting in November this year. Otherwise we may find ourselves in the ludicrous situation of sending the Queen or Prince Charles off to a country which has very serious unresolved human rights charges hanging over it, which has yet to justify executive interference in the judiciary, or has failed to adequately investigate the killing of journalists. When our royals arrive they could therefore be in the unhappy position of giving credit to a gathering from which important countries and close allies, like Canada, may well have chosen to absent themselves. That would be a disaster for them, for Britain, and for the Commonwealth.

Simon Danczuk, MP for Rochdale in the UK, has pledged to urge the Queen to boycott the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting later this year, in protest at the lack of justice for a British man murdered in Sri Lanka in 2011, reports AFP.

Speaking in the Rajya Sabha as part of a wider debate on Friday, the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said,

"There are problems in Sri Lanka; we have been worried about the fate of the Tamil population in Sri Lanka."

The second draft of a US sponsored resolution on Sri Lanka that is to be submitted to the 22nd session of the UN Human Rights Council currently underway, was circulated today.

See here for full text.

Writing in the Indian Express, James Manor, professor emeritus of Commonwealth Studies at the University of London, argues that the venue for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) later this year must be changed from Sri Lanka, "if the Commonwealth is to retain its well-earned reputation as a force for human decency", adding, "if that meeting is not moved elsewhere, the Commonwealth will abandon its enlightened commitments. Its irresolute secretary general, Kamalesh Sharma, has blocked a change of venue. Because he is a former Indian diplomat, New Delhi will be blamed."

Reproduced in full below:

A message to Colombo

India will soon be blamed — unjustly — for an international catastrophe. Since 1991, the Commonwealth has been a potent force behind the scenes for democracy, rights and human dignity. For example, it has persuaded the leaders of several one-party states to adopt open multi-party systems and it has ensured that leaders who have lost elections do not cling onto power. This admirable record is about to be squandered.

The next Commonwealth heads of government meeting in November is scheduled for Sri Lanka where an abusive government has committed multiple outrages. If that meeting is not moved elsewhere, the Commonwealth will abandon its enlightened commitments. Its irresolute secretary general, Kamalesh Sharma, has blocked a change of venue. Because he is a former Indian diplomat, New Delhi will be blamed.

This is already beginning to happen. Some commentators are saying that India urged Sharma to avoid offending Sri Lanka's leaders because it is anxious about China's growing influence there. It is true that China has invested massively in the island and that in 2011, President Mahinda Rajapaksa made a threatening telephone call to a newspaper editor in an unsuccessful attempt to suppress a report that the Chinese had given him $9 million to be used at his discretion. But India has not tried to restrain the secretary general.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa has blasted Sri Lanka, after a group of Indian fishermen were allegedly shot at by the Sri Lankan Navy.

A 40-year-old Indian fishermen was injured after shots were fired by the Sri Lankan Navy, causing extensive damage to their boats and equipment, who claim they were in Indian waters at the time.

India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called for political devolution in Sri Lanka to be addressed with a “sense of urgency”, in his address to the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

Replying to the debate on the President’s Address, Singh stated,

"Members have raised the issue of human rights violations during the conflict in Sri Lanka and the lack of progress on reconciliation, accountability and political devolution in Sri Lanka. The Government takes the sentiments expressed by Members very seriously. We are firmly of the view that issues of reconciliation and political devolution in Sri Lanka need to be addressed with a sense of urgency."

"We have consistently called upon the Government of Sri Lanka to fulfil its public commitments for the implementation of the 13th Amendment and for building further on it so as to achieve a meaningful political settlement. We have also urged that elections to the Northern Provincial Council be held at the earliest and have called for effective and time-bound implementation of the constructive recommendations contained in the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission report."

"This was also the message, Madam, I conveyed to President Rajapaksa during his visit to India in September 2012. We will continue to remain engaged with the Government of Sri Lanka to implement these steps and take forward the process of reconciliation and settlement."

Sri Lankan security forces have stopped thousands of Tamils from joining a protest march in Colombo to demand justice for disappeared or detained relatives on Wednesday.

Protesters, who were travelling mainly from Vavuniya, had boarded buses in order to make the 210 km journey to Colombo when Sri Lankan police stopped the buses.

In a statement published on Wednesday, the US embassy in Sri Lanka expressed alarm at the blocking of 1000s of Tamil protesters travelling to Colombo by Sri Lankan police.

See here. Reproduced in full below:

In an interview to Phoenix News Media on 1st March 2013 regarding Sri Lanka, the Canadian MP for Mississauga-Streetsville, Brad Butt, reaffirmed Canada's commitment to "continue to put pressure on through international bodies, through the Commonwealth and other agencies that Canada is a partner", and made clear that whilst quiet diplomacy can work, "sometimes you have to raise the bar, and that's exactly what we are doing."

"As we learn more, we continue to step up," he added.

Extracts of Brad Butt's responses have been transcribed below:

"The Prime Minister has spoken out very loudly and clearly on this issue, so has our foreign affairs minister, John Baird. We continue to be concerned about the lack of accountability for the serious allegations of war crimes. We know that there has been work done by the UN, a number of other reports that you've mentioned, that the Canadian government is gravely concerned about.""From what I heard, the US government is stepping up their comments and their concerns as well on this issue, so we are starting to build a better international voice on this to make sure that these issues are well articulated."

 Defence Secretary, Gotabaya Rajapaksa will open a new 'Buddhist Leadership Academy' later this month.