Sri Lankan minister says government should not allow UN Panel to visit the country

Leader of Sri Lanka's National Freedom Front (NFF) and Housing and Construction Minister Wimal Weerawansa today said that the United Nations Secretary-General's Panel of Experts should not be allowed to arrive in the country to carry out investigations into alleged human rights violations.

Weerawansa has told the media that the External Affairs Ministry should continue with its former stance of not permitting the Panel to visit Sri Lanka.

According to Weerawansa, groups opposing the government might provide false information to the Panel if it is allowed to visit the country. The Panel, he has said would also get the opportunity to prepare bogus reports by meeting fake witnesses.

He has firmly said that the three-member UN Panel should not be allowed to enter the country under any circumstance.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told the media yesterday (17) that the Panel of Experts appointed by him plans to visit Sri Lanka and meet with the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) appointed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The government earlier said the panel members, who started their work on the issues on September 16, will not be allowed to enter the country for any investigations.

The Sri Lankan government vehemently opposed the appointment of the three-member UN Panel, led by former Attorney General of Indonesia Marzuki Darusman, saying that it is unnecessary and unwarranted as the government has already set in motion its own mechanism to probe the events took place during a seven-year period prior to the conclusion of the war.