Suspected Sri Lankan war criminal secures UN top job

NEW YORK - Sri Lankan ex-military commander Shavendra Silva, a suspected war criminal, who played a key role in the slaughter of 40,000 civilians in Sri Lanka, has secured a top United Nations (UN) position.

Silva was named Sri Lanka’s Deputy Permanent U.N. Representative in August, after which he moved to New York.

According to the New York Post, human-rights groups have condemned the UN move.

Silva is also accused of killing a group of separatist political leaders who agreed to surrender and were waving white flags when they were shot.

The paper quoted an investigator familiar with Silva, who last year witnessed the final months of a brutal 26-year civil war against Tamil separatists, as saying, “It’s a slap in the face. Thousands were killed or starved. There were massive human rights violations and he’s the No. 1 suspect.”

“And they send this guy here? There’s no one other than him in the mission who was involved in this,” he questioned.

The war started in 1983 after the Tamils, a Hindu ethnic minority, were denied power by the ruling Sinhalese, Buddhists, and formed a violent resistance group, the Tamil Tigers. (ANI)