Colombo-based Sinhala daily, Lankadeepa, without quoting any officials from the Indian government or the Indian embassy in Colombo, said in a report that the Indian government has expressed its disapproval over the appointment of the expert panel by United Nations General Secretary Ban Ki-Moon. The report comes amidst concerted effort by Colombo to discredit the UN panel and reports indicate on-going attempts to persuade the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) to write a letter to Ban Ki Moon opposing the panel.
According to the Lankadeepa report, the Indian government has intimated its opposition towards the setting up of the panel after the United Nations had attempted to obtain independent views from highly placed Indian government officials and politicians on the situation in Sri Lanka, especially during the war fought with the LTTE and also the human rights situation in the country with regard to the final phase of the war which ended in May last year.
The panel was appointed amidst claims that there were gross human rights violations including the killing of a large number of civilians allegedly by the Sri Lanka military.
“The India government has informed the United Nations that it was not interested to get entangled in a matter which was the internal issue of Sri Lanka and has thus expressed its disapproval against the appointment of the expert panel by Ban ki-Moon,” the Sinhala daily added.
According to Lankadeepa, the Indian government has also informed the United Nations, that UN has been misinformed by certain interested parties with regard to the situation in Sri Lanka, which has led to the appointment of the panel.
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