Minister of Skills Development and Vocational Training Mahinda Samarasinghe today hit out at former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, questioning his silence on the incident where former High Commissioner to UK Chris Nonis was assaulted.

Speaking to the media at the Government Information Centre today he said that Rajapaksa was quick to condemn the attack on the High Commissioner to Malaysia Ibrahim Ansar but had been silent when Nonis was allegedly assaulted by MP Sajin de Vass Gunawardena when Rajapaksa was in power.

Nonis resigned from his post as a result.

Gunawardena was the Monitoring MP of the Ministry of External Affairs at the time and was widely believed to be more powerful than the foreign minister in the ministry. He was also a firm Rajapaksa ally. However Gunawardena maintains his innocence over the incident.

Samarasinghe today said that the government had condemned the attack on Ansar and legal steps are already being taken in Malaysia regarding the incident.