Lanka face isolation internationally: Mangala

Colombo, Feb 15 (UNI) Former Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka, Mangala Samaraweera said here today that the island nation was "in the process of being isolated internationally" due to the wrong policies of the government, mainly the worsening human rights situation.

Mr Samaraweera , who was sacked by President Mahinda Rajapakse last week, said at a special press briefing here that, "Internationally we are in the process of being isolated as never before. The President seemed to be badly advised on how to deal with the international community." Blaming the President and his two brothers "for taking the perilous path", he said the Tamil Tiger rebels were "becoming more and more powerful once again because of the actions of the government".

One of President's brothers, Gotabaya Rajapakse is the Secretary to the Ministry of Defence and virtually running war machine in the country against the LTTE. While another brother, Basil Rajapakse, is the senior advisor to the President and widely described as his political thinking.

"The real battle, as both the government and the LTTE are well aware, is not in the Wanni but in the international arena.

Specially, because of the continued human rights violations, abductions and killings, the LTTE, which had lost ground internationally during the last 12 months is now scoring points," Mr Samaraweera pointed out.

"Unfortunately, Sri Lanka, the oldest democracy in Asia and in the world, is now emerging as a tyranny under President Rajapakse and we have to stop that immediately," ha said.

Describing the President's move to sack him and two of his cabinet colleagues last week as "imperious display of executive powers against the very few who worked tirelessly to put him in power" Mr Samaraweera said he has sent a 10-point letter to the President urging him to get back to the correct path from "the path of disaster".

"This is not a power struggle, but we want to ensure that the President gets back to the right track," he said, adding that as the member of the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) he has already joined hands with several other members to put the government to the middle path of the SLFP.

Claiming that the LTTE's acts of terrorism should be handled squarely, Mr Samaraweera said it was equally the duty of the Rajapakse government to find a negotiated political settlement to the prolonged ethnic conflict at the earliest.

Mangala Samaraweera and another sacked minister Sripathi Sooriarachchi also urged Mahinda Rajapakse to provide them the elite security, which was withdrawn following the sacking, claiming they were under serious threat "from Prabhakaran in the North and Prabhakarans in the South.

UNI