British minister postpones visit to Sri Lanka - report

British parliamentarian and Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), Alistair Burt has postponed his Sri Lanka visit, a PTI news report said.

Burt was reportedly scheduled to visit Sri Lanka from Monday on a three-day tour. He was also expected to travel to Maldives and Bangladesh.

Local media citing British High Commission sources in Colombo reported that the visit has been cancelled. However, the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office is yet to confirm the cancellation.

The postponement of the visit has come in the wake of a protest against the British government launched by the Housing Minister Wimal Weerawansa in front of the British High Commission on Friday (03).

The protest was in response to the cancellation of a lecture by Sri Lankan President

Mahinda Rajapaksa at the prestigious Oxford Union during his visit to Britain last week.

The protestors accused the British Government of supporting the pro-LTTE Tamil groups in the UK and trying to revive the terrorist organization eliminated in Sri Lanka.

An official of the British High Commission in Colombo has said that they have been discussing the possibility of altering the dates of the proposed visit due to parliamentary pressures in the UK.

"We hope to re-arrange these visits as soon as possible," the official has said.