2ND LEAD (UPDATE)

Sinhala daily says India opposes UN panel

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 July 2010, 22:26 GMT]
Colombo-based Sinhala daily, Lankadeepa, without quoting any officials from the Indian government or the Indian embassy in Colombo, said in a report Sunday that the Indian government has expressed its disapproval over the appointment of the expert panel by United Nations General Secretary Ban Ki-Moon. Responding to the news, Tamil circles in Chennai blamed Monday the New Delhi Establishment for continuing to abet the genocidal agenda of Colombo, by objecting any international investigation amidst widespread allegation of Indian forces assisting the Sri Lankan military in the war against the Tigers.

According to the newspaper, the Indian government has intimated their 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 with regards to the final phase of the war which ended in May last year.

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.

The Indian government has also informed the United Nations that it has been misinformed by certain interested parties with regard to the situation in Sri Lanka, which has led to such a situation including the appointment of the panel, the Lankadeepa said.

The story has however not been sourced to any verified spokesman from the Indian government or even the Indian embassy in Colombo.

“The Indian 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 report by the Lankadeepa said.

Commenting further, the Tamil circles in Chennai characterised that the war waged in the island of Sri Lanka had an international dimension. The Sri Lankan state unilaterally abrogated the Internationally facilitated Ceasefire Agreement and waged a war with the support of big powers, including India, they argued and said the notion of 'internal issue' is not legally valid in the case of the conflict in Sri Lanka.

Lawyers and experts in the state of Tamil Nadu will soon engage in documenting the international character of the conflict, Tamil sources in Chennai further said.