“There is no substance in the report at all,” Mr. Samaraweera, who held talks with his Indian counterpart, Sushma Swaraj, told The Hindu on Sunday evening, echoing the denial of the same report by the External Affairs Ministry in Delhi. It is Mr. Samaraweera’s first visit abroad as the new government’s Foreign Minister.
The Reuters news agency reported that the “expulsion” of India’s spy agency chief in Sri Lanka had happened when Mahinda Rajapaksa was President.
Speaking on the issue earlier, External Affairs Ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin said, “Postings and transfers are in the public domain; when Indian diplomats go, the dates are announced and when they leave Sri Lanka, the dates are available. The dates are in public domain of all Indian diplomats.”
Stressing that he had had cordial discussions with Ms. Swaraj, Mr. Samaraweera said Sri Lanka’s foreign policy needed a “course correction” and that would happen in the first 100 days of the Maithripala Sirisena presidency.Asked if by “course correction” he meant addressing the pro-China tilt, Mr. Samaraweera said that the course correction would include all elements, the Hindu reports.
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