Sri
Lanka
Killing Fields
Screening
Without
Kohona, White
Flag Killings
Raised
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 6 --
When the Asia
Society
scheduled
screenings of
Killing Fields
of Sri Lanka
and the
government's
response for
December 6, it
was said that
the country's
Permanent
Representative
to the UN
Palitha Kohona
would be
present to
answer
questions.
But
in the run-up
to the
screenings, it
was
alternately
said that
Kohona was
tied up in
meeting at the
UN -- hard to
believe, given
that the only
General
Assembly
meeting of the
day, about the
Law of the
Sea, ended
before 6
pm -- or that
he canceled
not wanting to
undercut the
release of the
Mahinda
Rajapaksa
commissioned
Lessons Learnt
&
Reconciliation
Commission
report (which
has yet to be
formally
released to
the
public.)
Since
Kohona and
his deputy
Shavendra
Silva were
willing to
speak at the
UN while
screening the
government
response -- as
reported here,
the screening
of Killing
Fields never
took place in
the UN --
the excuse
about not
undercutting
the LLRC seems
strange.
Kohona
previously
bragged that
UN Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon had
seen the
government's
rebuttal
without
actually
watching
Killing Fields
- click
here for that.
Some
wonder if the
mounting
questions
about Kohona's
involvement in
the so-called
white
flag killings
of
surrendering
LTTE leaders,
arranged
involving UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
chief of staff
Vijay Nambiar,
led to
his
cancellation.
Kohona
and Silva with
their film at
UN, both
skipped Asia
Society
Meanwhile
while
Nambiar read
out a
statement that
Ban will only
allow senior
officials to
serve five
years in their
post, he
refused Inner
City
Press'
question about
whether this
rule applied
to him. Later
it was
said it
applies to
everyone.
Watch this
site.
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