The siege in front of the U.N. office in Colombo, Sri Lanka shows no signs of abating. Adding a further twist to the whole matter is Sri Lanka’s Minister for Housing, Wimal Weerawansa.
Weerawansa was the main instigator of the U.N. office siege which began on Tuesday and now he claims that he has begun a fast unto death, until his demands are met. His goal is to get the U.N. to dismantle the panel that has been set up to investigate war crimes in Sri Lanka. A three decade old war ended last year, when the terrorists were routed and wiped out in an intense military push.
The U.N. is investigating claims of extra judicial killings of more than 7,000 ethnic Tamil civilians. In this regard, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon engaged a three man panel to look into the matter and to advise him on how to proceed. It is against this panel that Weerawansa is protesting against.
Weerawansa is a staunch ally of the President and leader of the National Freedom Front. He was member of the leftist JVP party until he was thrown out for not following party rules. His initial blockade of the U.N. premises was diffused and cleared after Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister G. L. Peiris intervened. However, Weerawansa returned on Thursday with an agenda that he refuses to back down from.
A spokesman for the U.N. in New York, Farhan Haq, said that there was no possibility of the panel being disbanded.
