Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Sri Lanka: NGOs Stabbing Sri Lanka in the back with a vengeance

Republished for information and discussion only. This report does not necessarily reflect the views of Mike Hitchen Consulting

By Ranjith Soysa,Spokesperson - WAPS.


For last 30 years, the Sri Lankan nation has been held to ransom by the LTTE, a heavily armed racist group of terrorists. There isn't a single instance where the LTTE or their psychopath leader stated officially that the LTTE is willing to negotiate anything less than the demand to carve a separate State out of Sri Lankan territory a release by the World Alliance for Peace in Sri Lanka (WAPS) said.

It said "The LTTE's claims to the Northern and the Eastern provinces are based on fabrications and myths and have been rejected by the people of Sri Lanka and the neighbouring countries.

The LTTE retains the services of more than 2000 child soldiers and their armed cadres are compelled to wear cyanide capsules. They have a squad of suicide bombers and other killers who explode claymore mines and bombs in civilian centres.

They indiscriminately kill unarmed civilians and engage in ethnic cleansing of specific ethnic groups such as the Sinhalese or Muslims to drive them out of the region claimed for their separate State, while mercilessly pursuing Tamils who have a different point of view to their Fascist agenda.

The LTTE receives almost all their funds and arms mainly from overseas sympathisers. Their foreign operations are based primarily in Western countries.

They are involved in public fund raising, fund collections through intimidations, credit card scams, robbing of passports, fraud, duping charities and misappropriating tsunami relief funds, drug and people smuggling activities.

The LTTE and their fronts in the West violate many local, regional as well international laws including UN conventions.

Yet, the prominent foreign funded NGOs operating in Sri Lanka such as Centre for Policy Alternatives, International Alert, National Peace Council, International Centre for Ethnic Studies, Foundation For Co-Existence, Women and Media Centre, National Anti War Front,

A Voice in Colombo, are in the habit of issuing statements and media releases directly and indirectly encouraging and justifying the LTTE agenda. These organisations with overlapping directorates refuse to accept that the LTTE is intransigent and is in fact a terrorist group that has been holding the whole country to ransom for last 30 years.

While issuing statements to protect the LTTE from being marginalised or defeated, these organisations whose very accountability of foreign donor funds are not transparent - have the audacity to equate the elected Sri Lanka government with an internationally banned terrorist organisation.

We give below some of the statements made by these NGOs, which should receive the serious attention of the Sri Lankans who are against terrorism and who have sacrificed life and limb and many other public and private assets that are needed for their very sustenance.

1) Jehan Perera of the National Peace Council referring to the recent LTTE bombings of Civilian Transport in an interview to New York Times stated, the attacks were probably a "tit-for-tat kind of retaliation" by the rebels. "The Government must also be careful with its own operations."

2) The Centre for Policy Alternatives in their communique dated 9th June 2008 has stated. "We call on all armed actors, especially the Government, the LTTE and the TMVP to ensure that attacks on civilians will be brought to a halt."

3) In the recent scandal involving the key members of the ICES, it was revealed that this organisation adopted a confrontational stand against the Government of Sri Lanka in order to obtain large scale funding from a US Foundation and the International Crisis Group with the aim of seeking international intervention in Sri Lanka's internal conflict.

4) Pakiyasothy Saravanamuttu of CPA stated at a Forum on Sri Lanka held in George Washington University in USA , in May 2008 that the Sri Lankan Armed Forces take "Tamils daily by hundreds to the Jaffna beaches and kill them".

5) Nimalka Fernando, Shrilal Lakthileeke of CAFFE in their misleading statements renouncing that Eastern Province poll was totally unfair and alleging that the Elections Commissioner was 'conniving with Pillaiyan Group'.

6) Misleading statements by Pakiyasothy Saravanamuttu and Jayadeva Uyangoda of CPA in ABC Rear Vision about the Citizenship Law adopted by the Independent Sri Lanka.

7) Misleading statements by many of the FNGO representatives to foreign news agencies regarding ACF volunteers killed in Muttur and removal of suspected LTTE activists in Colombo.

7) Mano Ganesan of Civil Monitoring Commission advising Tamils of the North and the East capital Colombo and the South of Sri Lanka are unsafe and insecure.

Most of these NGOs continue to get Government funds from the UK, Canada, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Netherlands, Australia and a number of Western donor agencies.

They make use of funds allocated by the Western countries for 'peace building processes' and many of the FNGO bosses have super salaries and emoluments. BBC, ABC, Reuters, AFP, AP, Bloomberg,

The Economist and foreign NGOs such as HRW, AI, Caritas always interview or quote Jehan P. Pakkiyasothy S. Uyangoda and the members of this tribe introduced to the readers as 'independent political analysts' Invariably, their views or presentations give a pro LTTE, pro-separatist spin and are highly critical of the elected Sri Lankan Governments.

While Uyangoda and Jehan support traditional homelands theory and separatism, Saravanamuttu questions the need for sovereignty for Sri Lanka.

Kumar Rupasinghe was emphatic in advocating that Sri Lankan defence Forces have no right to wrest control of Jaffna peninsula has supported the LTTE propaganda drives.

Ironically, the key people of Sri Lankan FNGOs are recognised and quoted often by the West even though they are from a very narrow band of Colombo middle class.

Their concepts, projects and programmes have been rejected by the Sri Lankan intelligentsia and completely ignored by the masses of the country.

It is outrageous that such minuscule set are funded by national Governments of some of the Western countries and prestigious donor organisations. We believe these NGOs, which are mainly funded by foreign sources are a threat to Sri Lanka's sovereignty, and her national security.

We request the Sri Lankan people, patriotic organisations and the Sri Lankan Government to investigate into the improper conduct of these NGOs in relation to the authorised codes of conduct, registration regulations and country's criminal code, monitor their on-going activities stringently requiring them to conform to audit and accountability requirements as imposed on governmental and private companies and enforce transparency of all their dealings with regular reporting to a government institution under the purview of the President and/or the Defence Ministry."

Source: Ministry of Defence, Public Security, Law & Order - Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka
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