Only hours after the summit opened in Colombo, Cameron flew into the northern Jaffna region where some 100,000 people lost their lives in fighting between Tamil rebels and troops from the majority Sinhalese government.
Several women who lost relatives during the war tried to hurl themselves in front of Cameron’s motorcade as he became the first foreign leader to visit Jaffna since the former British colony gained independence in 1948.
Clutching photos of their missing loved ones, they screamed ‘We Want Justice’ before the premier sped away.
He later toured the offices of a Tamil newspaper whose printing presses have been torched several times, including in April this year, and which has lost five staff in attacks since Rajapakse came to power in 2005.
‘This is going to make a very lasting impression on me. That is something you don’t forget,’ Cameron told journalists at ‘Uthayan’ (Sun) daily where the portraits of slain staff line the walls.
‘But it’s only when you see it with your own eyes, it really brings home just how much you’re suffering.’
The landmark visit overshadowed the start of a three-day summit.
Cameron flew out of Colombo shortly after Rajapakse said in an opening speech warned his fellow leaders of trying to impose their own ‘bilateral agendas’.
‘If the Commonwealth is to remain relevant to its member countries, the association must respond to the needs of its people and not turn into a punitive or judgmental body,’ he said.