The government having unnecessarily complicated Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict and thereby permitting foreign countries to dictate terms, was now unfairly blaming Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe, the UNP said yesterday.

Kandy District UNP MP, Lakshman Kirielle told a news conference in Colombo, that the government should at least now stop blaming Mr. Wickremesinghe and acknowledge that it was sadly lacking in the art of diplomacy.

"The Mahinda Rajapaksa government’s short sightedness and arrogance has resulted in heightened foreign interference in Sri Lanka. It should turn the search light inwards, without blaming all and sundry for the mess that has been created".

Wickremesinghe, he said has always undertaken foreign tours that could bring some benefits to the country, unlike government ministers, who periodically go on pleasure trips at state expense.

During Wickremesinghe’s tenure as prime minister, countries were falling over each other to help Sri Lanka, but the Rajapaksa government despite going around the world with a begging bowl, was unable to obtain loans on terms that were favourable to the country, Kirielle said.

"The government is trying to paint a rosy picture, but it is obvious to all that the internally displaced Tamil civilians in the North, are undergoing tremendous hardships in refugee camps. There is an acute shortage of basic necessities and it was bound to get worse."

The true situation in the North, he said cannot be revealed, because the independent media has no access to the war zones and those who dare report the truth, are either assaulted, killed or expelled from the country.