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Samaraweera says he warned Rajapaksa on rights situation

Colombo: The former Foreign Minister, Mangala Samaraweera, had warned President Mahinda Rajapaksa that India might join the western powers in bringing strictures and resorting to embargoes if the island nation did not improve its human rights record.

Mr. Samaraweera, who was sacked by the President last week, released a letter he wrote to Mr. Rajapaksa in December, emphasising the need to clean up the human rights situation.

Copies of the letter were released to the media.

Mr. Samaraweera was unhappy with the crackdown on Tamils, his loyalists said. He expressed concern over the manner in which the state media handled allegations against the government, the privately run Sunday Times said.

``Instead of responding to allegations in a factual and credible manner, the people who make such allegations become victims of vicious personal attacks bordering on criminal defamation,'' he said. — PTI

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