Sri Lankan man sets himself on fire to protest UN action against island country

Colombo: A 73-year-old man has died after he set himself on fire here to protest the international action against Sri Lanka over its alleged human rights violation, police said on Wednesday. [caption id=“attachment_1694865” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Reuters[/caption] The man set himself on fire near a police station next to President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s office on Tuesday and was admitted to hospital in a serious condition, they said. The police said he had made a statement from the hospital bed claiming his action was in protest against international action against Sri Lanka. The victim, a retired soldier who had served for 21 years, had accused the US, UN Human Rights Council and opposition politicians of acting to undermine the country, police said. Sri Lanka has rejected a UNHRC resolution in March that called for an international investigation into allegations that 40,000 civilians were killed in the final months of the civil war that ended in 2009. PTI