East Ham MP Stephen Timms takes a moment with representatives from the Tamil community to remember those lost during the Sri Lankan war.

East Ham Tamil community discuss Sri Lankan war with Stephen Timms MP

Melissa York, Reporter Saturday, April 28, 2012
8:00 AM

East Ham MP Stephen Timms met with representatives of the borough’s Tamil community to discuss the lasting effects of the war in Sri Lanka.

The Labour MP and Shadow Employment Minister listened to resident’s concerns at the Hartley Centre at Barking Road, East Ham, alongside Tamil members of the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam.

Mr Timms met constituents who had lost family members and friends in the conflict, commenting that the East Ham Tamil community was one of the worst affected in London by the war which ended in 2009.

He also highlighted the plight of war-affected Tamil women living in the north east of Sri Lanka.

The Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam, a democratically elected dispora to promote the aspirations of the Tamils, organised the event on Monday April 9.

Balambihai Murugadas, Minister for women, children, and elderly affairs with the organisation, handed Mr Timms a petition signed by East Ham constituents requesting the UK Foreign Affairs Select Committee question the situation faced by Tamils in Sri Lanka and make the UK’s attendance at the 2013 Commonweath Heads of Government Meeting, to be held in the country, conditional on accountability and human rights progress.