Weerawansa lashes out at Moon

National Freedom Front Leader Minister Wimal Weerawansa yesterday hit out at moves by UN Secretary General Ban-ki Moon to appoint a panel of experts on Sri Lanka, describing it as a step that goes above the mandate of the UN Secretary General.

Issuing a media release the Minister stated that according to the UN Secretary General the panel of experts is to be appointed to advise him on how he should act since there has been allegations of war crimes and human rights violations against Sri Lanka.

The Minister noted that Ban-ki Moon is well aware that there were representation to the UN Human Rights Commission last year to appoint a Commission of Inquiry to probe charges of war crimes and human rights violations against Sri Lanka and that this move was defeated by a majority vote.

Hence, the decision taken by the UN Secretary General to implement this defeated motion is questionable to say the least and smacks of another conspiracy that is being hatched against Sri Lanka.

The entire world is well aware of the dedication and care with which the Security Forces conducted the humanitarian operation to protect the lives and property of the civilians.

In contrast there has been accusations of grave violations of human rights of the civilian population during operations carried out in countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan.

There are also charges of war crimes committed by soldiers who are conducting these operations.

However, the UN Secretary General has failed to appoint a Commission of Inquiry or Panel of experts to probe these atrocities.

This shows the duplicity practised by the Secretary General, the Minister adds.