Farsighted strategic decision taken by the Government of Sri Lanka

by Ranjith Soysa

(September 16, Melbourne, Sri Lanka Guardian) A popular Sinhala proverb exhorts not to lament after inviting dangerous serpents to one’s lap. Unfortunately, many of the INGOs and NGOs which function in Sri Lanka have acted in a manner detrimental to the stability and the national security of the country, while white washing the LTTE, and on a number of occasions actively aiding and abetting the terrorists and separatists. Some have even materially assisted the LTTE ‘s war against Sri Lanka.

Some of the glaring instances of traitorous activities of INGOs and NGOs highlighted below, confirm that these institutions feed on the misery of host countries in the developing world.

1. False announcements made by UNICEF’s Penny Bourne in Chenchloai in 2006, that the Sri Lanka Air Force bombed a kindergarten picked by the world news agencies and pro-LTTE media to smear the name of Sri Lanka when, in fact, it was a military training camp for women.

2. High protein biscuits and food packets of World Food Programme distributed to the LTTE camps.

3. French NGO, ACF’s intransigence in not moving their local staff away from the war zone in MUTTUR in August 2006 resulting in their deaths, and subsequent questionable role played by them in hiding their responsibility and irresponsibly apportioning blame to the Government’s security forces.

4. “Loss” of vehicles and heavy equipment belonging to Norwegian People’s Aid engaged in landmine clearance work in the Vanni in 2007. The INGO claimed they were “stolen” by the LTTE for use in their military operations against the government’s forces after the security forces made public the fact these items were missing.

5. Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO), an arm of the LTTE, which is banned by the USA and UK, continuing to collect funds supposedly for humanitarian purposes in many overseas countries, found to be diverting these funds for procurement of weapons for use of the LTTE.

6. Bergoff Foundation’s role in advocating the downsizing of the country’s defence forces at a time when the LTTE was building up its military capability to break up the country by armed force.

7. INGOS and foreign funded NGOs like the National Peace Council, Centre for Policy Alternatives, ICES, International Alert, Centre for Co-Existence, Pryathnaya in their regular comments to the international media and in various discussion forums promote the agenda of the Tiger terrorists and separatists, to justify the LTTE’s armed struggle whilst vilifying the Sinhalese and carrying out vicious attacks on the Government of Sri Lanka.


8. World Council of Churches and National Council of Churches in Sri Lanka continuously campaign in support of the separatists and the terrorist LTTE based on propaganda and disinformation emanating from LTTE news agencies. The fact that these institutions are emotionally closer to the white Christian main stream in the West has been exploited to the maximum by the LTTE fronts.

Most of the INGOs and NGOs have no qualms in criticising the elected Governments of Sri Lanka while soft peddling the terrorist acts of the LTTE. Their stance provides “legitimacy” to the LTTE in the eyes of the influential segments in the West. They hardly take note of the complex nature of the problems faced by the ordinary people of Sri Lanka from all communities who have been directly affected by ethnic cleansing and elimination of dissidents carried on by a ruthless terrorist organization for more than 30 years,

Almost all these INGOs and NGOs seem to have a vested interest in making sure the LTTE thrives and continues its reign of terror, and that many, if not all of the INGOs and NGOs working in the so-called “LTTE controlled” areas have behaved irresponsibly in the past and have been overtly and covertly supplying the LTTE with strategic information obtained through their privileged position or providing them equipment, food and drugs and other material assistance on the ground, while carrying out a vicious campaign of vilifying the Sri Lankan government in Western capitals in order to promote the LTTE’ racist agenda with Western governments. The decision of the Sri Lankan government to bar these organisations from functioning in the war zone is a positive and farsighted step and would have been one that any government at war with a terrorist force would have taken long ago. The government’s actions will prevent another massacre that is blamed on the armed forces.

The decision to remove the NGOs and aid workers from the war zone whilst at the same time providing a security corridor for internally displaced Tamil civilians to reach safety and relief assistance is a timely decision which is welcomed by many who share the travails of Sri Lanka and those concerned about the human rights of the IDPs who are now used as a human shield by the cornered Tamil Tigers. The LTTE leaders are today reaping the fruits of their three decades of savage brutality. - Sri Lanka Guardian