by Shamindra Ferdinando
The police yesterday dispersed a group of persons protesting outside the UN compound demanding an end to UN intervention in Sri Lanka.
The protest got underway in the wake of outgoing UNSG Ban Ki-moon arriving in Colombo on Wednesday night for a two-day visit.
The police prevented demonstrators led by Buddhist monks identified as members of Ravana Balaya from marching on the compound just before the UN chief arrived on the first full day of his two-day visit to Sri Lanka. The UN chief’s convoy arrived at the compound soon after the police forced protesters to leave the scene.
The police also warned another group supportive of the UN chief’s visit from gathering near the compound.
Subsequently, the UNSG discussed ongoing post-war reconciliation efforts with President Maithripala Sirisena. President Sirisena also briefed the UN Chief regarding the proposed constitutional reforms and related developments.
The Joint Opposition comprising SLFP, NFF, MEP, DLF and PHU handed over a petition to an official
at the UN compound. Colombo District MP Bandula Gunawardena and Matara District MP Niroshan
Premaratne handed over the petition demanding an end to UN interference in the country’s internal affairs.
About an hour after arriving here, the UN chief met Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe Wednesday night at Temple Trees as he kicked off a visit focusing on post-war reconciliation efforts as well as accountability issues. Ban visited the north on May 22, 2009 within 72 hours after the Sri Lankan Army cleared the last pocket of resistance on the banks of the Nanthikadal lagoon.
Foreign Ministry said that Ban arrived in Colombo on the second leg of a five-stop Asia tour which has already taken him to Myanmar and Singapore.
The police had obtained a court order preventing protests near the UN compound.
Wartime Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama yesterday told The Island that the UN chief could certainly see the transformation that had taken place since the end of the conflict.
Bogollagama recollected an SLAF chopper taking them from Vavuniya to the Vanni east where the LTTE was brought to its knees. The war ended on May 19, 2009.
Bogollagama said that the government should make arrangements for Ban to visit Vanni east. “The last time he was here the SLAF couldn’t land there. But seven years after the conclusion of the conflict, Ban can certainly meet people on the ground.”
Asked whether Ban said anything adverse during the flight over the Vanni east battlefields, Bogollagama said that anyone could have easily understood that all civilians had been held at one location. The UN wouldn’t have surely seen a similar situation in any part of the world, Bogollagama said, emphasizing that the Sri Lankan Army wasn’t the perpetrator but the rescuer.
Bogollagama stressed that the joint communique issued following Ban’s meeting with the then President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the President’s House in Kandy on May 22, 2009 never referred to an international or hybrid judicial inquiry.
The former Foreign Minister said Ban would realize that successive governments had transformed Jaffna, the worst affected district during the conflict. Welcoming Ban’s visit to Jaffna tomorrow, the former FM said that in spite of liberating Jaffna in Dec 1995, the peninsula remained vulnerable until the Rajapaksa government regained the Vanni in 2009.
Ban wouldn’t undermine Sri Lanka’s triumph over terrorism during his stay here as no country could match the rehabilitation programme conducted under the supervision of the military and the ending of recruitment of child soldiers, he pointed out.
Courtesy:The Island