UN Chief has cleverly timed a meeting to embarrass the visiting head of State from Sri lanka acuuses The Island editorial. Wow.

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Editorial


Cussedness of a diplomatic hit manSeptember 17, 2010, 8:32 pm
The sickening abrasiveness and sheer arrogance that Ban Ki-moon exudes in his approach to the affairs of Sri Lanka are unbecoming of a UN Secretary General. Such opprobrious conduct is something to be expected of a swashbuckling street soldier in New York doing dirty contracts for a living, and not certainly of an international civil servant at the helm of the apex world body which boasts of impartiality and good governance. As if stabbing a UN member in the back were not enough, now he is twisting the knife!
The UN Chief has cleverly timed a meeting with the members of his so-called advisory panel on Sri Lanka for President Mahinda Rajapaksa's visit to New York, where he will attend the 65th session of the UN General Assembly. This meeting was not on Ki-moon's official schedule as admitted by his spokesman Martin Nesirky. It was obviously fixed in a hurry to embarrass the visiting head of State, though Nesirky told the media that it had been omitted from the UNSG's schedule because it was an internal meeting. Mr. Nesirky, go, tell it to the marines! You are trying to defend the indefensible!
In March 2010, the UNSG appointed, at the behest of some western governments that failed to save Prabhakaran, his panel on Sri Lanka, which is a war crimes probe in all but name. But, the official clock has not yet begun for it. Speculation is rife in the UN circles that the panel may begin work after its members’ meeting with the UNSG.
The objective of the UNSG's meeting with the panel members was to take the gloss off President's Rajapaksa's US visit and his scheduled address to the UNGA, where many leaders will certainly want to listen to what he has got to say because he is expected to share with them his experience with battling terrorism, coping with rehabilitation, resettlement and rebuilding and facing the attendant challenges. Is it that those who are getting bogged down in the Afghan imbroglio ignominiously in spite of their military might and braggadocio, with no prospects of winning, are all out to have President Rajapaksa's presentation to be made to the UN spoilt by conjuring up images of war crimes with the help of the UNSG and other acolytes, in the run-up to the UNGA session?
Ki-moon is acting in the same manner as the LTTE sympathisers who usually stage vehement protests against President Rajapaksa whenever he visits a foreign country, the only difference being that the LTTE backers hold placards and shout venomous slogans while the UN chief uses diplomacy and his panel on Sri Lanka!
The UNSG may sing for his supper and perform all sorts of tricks and turn somersaults like a gypsy's monkey to entertain his western masters at whose mercy he finds himself for survival in that high post as well as for reappointment, but he should be prevented from resorting to acts calculated to embarrass a visiting Head of State.
President Rajapaksa is expected to meet the UNSG during his stay in New York and if their meeting takes place as scheduled, he must not only condemn the panel at issue but also question the credentials of its members who have been handpicked because of their dependence on and allegiance to the EU hostile to Sri Lanka and/or their prejudices against her.