 "Sri Lankan President dials Modi, rejects 'RAW assasination plot' report")
Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena called up Prime Minister Narendra Modi Wednesday and categorically rejected the media reports that he had accused India's intelligence agency RAW of plotting his assassination as "utterly baseless and false".
In the telephonic conversation, Sirisena apprised Modi of the urgent steps taken by him personally and the Sri Lankan government to publicly reject these reports, which he described as "mischievous and mala fide", the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) in New Delhi said in a statement.
The media reports came ahead of Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's three-day India visit from Thursday for talks with Prime Minister Modi to speed up the India-backed projects, including the East Terminal project, in the island nation.
The economynext.com, quoting a ministerial source after a heated cabinet meeting Tuesday, reported that Sirisena had accused his senior coalition partner, the United National Party (UNP), of not taking seriously an alleged conspiracy to kill him and the former secretary to the ministry of defence, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.
The minister, who declined to be named, claimed that the president said that India's external intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) was behind the plot.
The Lankan Foreign Ministry termed the reports "baseless and false".
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The Lankan president, during his phone call with Modi, categorically rejected the reports.
"He mentioned that the mischievous and mala fide reports were utterly baseless and false and seemed intended to create a misunderstanding between the two leaders as well as damage the cordial relations between the two friendly neighbours," the PMO statement said.
Sirisena also stated that he regarded Modi as a true friend of Sri Lanka. He stressed that he greatly valued the mutually beneficial ties between India and Sri Lanka, and remained steadfast on working with the prime minister for further strengthening them, the statement added.
Modi appreciated the prompt steps taken by Sirisena and the Lankan government to firmly refute the malicious reports by publicly clarifying the matter.
The prime minister also reiterated India's emphasis on the "neighbourhood first" policy and the priority the Indian government and he personally attached to developing even stronger all-round cooperation between the two countries.
The Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry said it wished to emphasise that the relations between Sri Lanka and India, including at the highest levels of the governments, were strong, encompassing multiple spheres including intelligence sharing.
"It is disappointing therefore that matters of this nature have become the subject of distorted and erroneous media reports, taking the President's remarks out of context, which has given rise to further media and social media speculation and the spread of unfounded fear among the public," the ministry said in a statement.
It added that in continuation of the close and regular interactions between Sri Lanka and India at all levels, including at the highest levels of the governments, President Sirisena had discussions Wednesday morning as well at a meeting with the High Commissioner of India in Colombo.
Earlier in the day, Cabinet Spokesman Rajitha Senaratne also dismissed the media reports at a press conference in Colombo.
Senaratne, also the Minister of Health, read out a statement by Cabinet Secretary S Abeysinghe, which stated that the president had not said anything about the RAW plotting to assassinate him.
"The president, as the Head of the Cabinet of Ministers, has paid attention to the print and electronic media reports on the matters discussed during the cabinet meeting at the Presidential Secretariat on October 16. It is stressed that those news are completely untrue.
"Any cabinet paper relating to the infrastructure development projects planned to be implemented in Sri Lanka by the Indian government or Indian companies was not included in the agenda of that cabinet meeting," he said.
According to the media reports, Sirisena said he was unhappy with the police Criminal Investigation Department (CID) inquiry into the plot and faulted the law and order minister for what he called the "very slow progress of the inquiry".
The president, however, did not give the details of how India was involved in the plot and several cabinet ministers were aghast at his claim, the report said.
The cabinet meeting witnessed heated exchanges when the ministers discussed the awarding of the East Terminal of the Colombo port to India, reports said.
Sirisena was opposed to granting India access to develop the terminal just next to the China-run Colombo International Container Terminal (CICT), the report said.
The cabinet spokesperson, however, said Sirisena had not expressed opposition to the Eastern Port Terminal deal with India.
Wickremesinghe, who will arrive in New Delhi Thursday evening on a scheduled visit, will hold wide-ranging talks with Modi Saturday.
The two prime ministers are likely to review the status of the India-assisted housing projects in Jaffna during Wickremesinghe's visit. They are also likely to deliberate on the Tamil issue -- the reconciliation process and devolution of powers in the Tamil-dominated areas.