5 December 2010 06:37 am
Alastair Burt, Secretary of State of Foreign and Commonwealth office for South Asia, was due to visit the island nation next week, alongside his tour of two other countries in the region - Bangladesh and Maldives.
“Over the past few days we have been discussing the possibility of altering the dates of the proposed visit due to parliamentary pressures in the UK,” an official of the British High Commission in Colombo said. “We hope to re-arrange these visits as soon as possible.”
Last Friday hundreds of pro-government supporters led by a Cabinet Minister demonstrated in front of the British High Commission in Colombo to protest what they called the UK’s support to Tamil separatists
The scheduled speech by President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the Oxford University was canceled by the University authority following alleged pressure from the Tamil groups in London.