Sri Lankan minister goes on hunger strike

A Sri Lankan cabinet minister began a hunger strike outside the UN office in Colombo to protest allegations of war crimes.

A Sri Lankan cabinet minister on Thursday began a hunger strike outside the UN office in Colombo to protest against a panel set up to probe allegations of war crimes during the island’s civil war.

Housing Minister Wimal Weerawansa, who led protests outside the United Nations office earlier this week, said he was prepared to fast to death to protect the honour of the military.

“This (UN panel) is a plan by the UN to produce our military before a war crimes tribunal,” Weerawansa said to dozens of cheering supporters. “We won’t let that happen,” he added. He also urged people to come in thousands and take part in protests and demonstrations all over the island to pressurise UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to dissolve the three-member panel.

Ban named the panel last month to advise on “accountability issues” during the war between government forces and the Tamil Tiger separatists, which ended in May last year.

On Tuesday, demonstrators led by Weerawansa surrounded the UN office in Colombo and kept staff under siege for several hours.

In New York on Wednesday, the United Nations said it had “strong objections” to the protests. The United Nations has said that at least 7,000 ethnic Tamil civilians were killed in the final stages of the fighting. The agency estimates some 100,000 people died during the 37-year-long conflict.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 9^th, 2010.