Prime Minister David Cameron’s upcoming visit to Sri Lanka for the Commonwealth heads of Government meeting has faced criticism at Prime Minister’s Questions in parliament today.

Due to Cameron’s visit to the US, he was represented by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.

The deputy leader of Clegg’s Liberal party, Simon Hughes, said he “cannot support” Cameron’s decision, because of Sri Lanka’s human rights record.

Labour MP Siobhain McDonagh also questioned the decision to attend the meeting.

Nick Clegg said that the decision was “controversial, especially in the light of the despicable human rights violations”, but that the visit would “cast a spotlight on the unacceptable abuses”.

“If such violations continue, and if the Sri Lankan Government continues to ignore their international commitments in the lead up to the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting, of course there will be consequences.”

See below for exchange in full.

Tamil schoolchildren in Killinochchi sang songs honouring the Sri Lankan Army at a ceremony earlier this week, in front of the Ranaviru Smarakaya monument.

Sri Lanka held a ‘Jaya Pirith’ ceremony earlier this week, which saw thousands of monks gather in Colombo this week to invoke blessings upon Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the Sri Lankan Army.

Over a thousand Tamils of the Northern Peninsula  filed  a petition, to the Appeal Court, demanding that steps to be taken against an acquisition notice ,marked 'P1', that advocates the appropriation of 6381 acres of land which contain their traditional homes.

A Sri Lankan soldier was acquitted by an all Sinhalese jury, after previously being sentenced to death for the killing of five Muslims, in Pulmoaddai, Trincomalee.

The Commander of the Sri Lankan Security Forces in Vanni has stated that not one single civilian has gone missing and pledged to defend the government on any international forum.

Major General Boniface Perera who is also the Officer-in-Charge of Displaced Persons in the Northern Province said,

Talks between Tamil political representatives, from both the TNA and the TNPF, and Tamil civil society groups were held in Mannar this weekend under the chairmanship of the Bishop of Mannar. 

Seeking to mitigate against the effects of the on-going structural genocide and arrive at a common policy on political solution for the Tamils, the notion of creating a broader Tamil body incorporating political representatives and civil society groups such as a Tamil National Council was discussed. 

The Sri Lankan Meteorology Department has apologised for naming a cyclone brewing in the Indian Ocean after a Singhalese king.

Sinhala Buddhist organisation, Ravana Balaya, objected to the cyclone being named ‘Mahasen’, saying it was a “foolish decision” to name a destructive force after a Singhalese king.

Ravana Balaya Secretary Ittekande Saddhathissa said his organisation would not object if the Meteorology Department re-named it "Cyclone Prabhakaran”.

Sri Lanka's first High Commission in Uganda was unveiledon Monday by President Mahinda Rajapaksa, and the Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni. Rajapaksa is currently in Uganda to attend the 2013 Commonwealth Local Governments Conference. 

Vellupillai Kananathan, the serving Consul General of Sri Lanka in Kampala, will be the first High Commissioner of Sri Lanka to Uganda.

External Affairs Minister GL Peiris said: