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Cameron is demanding an international inquiry into war crimes believed to have been committed at the end of the civil war in 2009, when as many as 40,000 people were killed.

The Prime Minister refused to boycott this week’s meeting despite being urged to do so by critics of the Sri Lankan government, including Ed Miliband, the Labour leader.

The Sri Lankan government on Thursday hit back at Cameron, with President Rajapaksa stating that he has “nothing to hide”. Another minister accused the Prime Minister of treating Sri Lanka like a British colony.

Speaking in India Thursday night before his visit, Mr Cameron said that he would have a “frank exchange of views” with President Rajapaksa at the summit.

“We are two sovereign countries, this is 2013 and I’m sure we’ll have a frank exchange of views,” he said.

“There are some important points to put to the Sri Lankans. There is the problem of human rights as we speak today: the people who have disappeared, the lack of free rights for journalists and a free press. But I think perhaps most important of all is the need for proper investigations to look into what happened at the end of this very long, appalling civil war that took place and these appalling scenes that we’ve seen on our television screens of people being killed.”

Mr Cameron recently watched a Channel 4 documentary that included scenes showing civilians being executed, allegedly by Sri Lankan soldiers.

“The images in that film are completely chilling,” he said. “It’s an appalling set of allegations and of course these allegations have been backed up by the work of the UN Special Rapporteur who has had them verified.