{"id":97559,"date":"2020-01-09T17:26:02","date_gmt":"2020-01-10T00:26:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=97559"},"modified":"2020-01-09T17:26:02","modified_gmt":"2020-01-10T00:26:02","slug":"ban-leading-ngos-confiscate-their-assets-and-freeze-their-bank-accounts-part-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/01\/09\/ban-leading-ngos-confiscate-their-assets-and-freeze-their-bank-accounts-part-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"Ban leading NGOs, confiscate their Assets, and freeze their bank accounts Part II"},"content":{"rendered":"

By : A.A.M.NIZAM\u00a0 – MATARA.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

It\nwas in 1980, the Government took the first step to enact the Voluntary Social\nServices Organisations (Registration and Supervision) Act. It sought to\nintroduce a system of registration and supervision of activities of NGOs.\nHowever, this Act was not strictly implemented and the registration of NGOs was\nnot strictly followed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\n1990, a Commission was appointed to go into the activities of NGOs and to make\nrecommendations for their proper functioning. The Commission made some\nrecommendations and accordingly, regulations were passed under the Public\nSecurity Ordinance obligating compulsory registration of NGOs which have a turnover\nof Rs.50,000 and above. However, with the lapse of the Emergency Regulations,\nthis system too lapsed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\n1995 the Government introduced certain draft amendments to the 1980 Act\nproviding for the establishment of an NGO Advisory Council and appointment of\nInterim Boards of Management to administer the affairs of NGOs. There were\nvehement protests against these provisions and implementation got stalled.\nHowever, a Secretariat for NGOs was established in 1996. Finally, it was only\nin 1998 the Parliament approved the draft legislation (Act No.8 of 1998).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around\nApril last year, the Government again introduced a draft legislation to amend\nthe Voluntary Social Service Organizations (Registration and Supervision) Act,\nNo 31 of 1980. The draft amendment was subjected to severe criticism by the\nNGOs. As a result, it was withdrawn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As\nwe can see from historical records, Sri Lanka has not been successful in their\nefforts to introduce regulations to supervise and scrutinise the NGOs in Sri\nLanka. It is obvious that the extraordinary power\u201d behind the NGOs is a real\nforce to reckon with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nmany occasions NGO clout had caused deep annoyance to the Sri Lankan\nGovernment. We can take comfort because such experiences are not confined to\nSri Lanka only. It has happened to many other countries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Uganda has introduced a new Bill restricting the\nactivities of NGOs, making registration compulsory and obliging them to be\ntransparent about their reeipt and <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Cambodia a mew new law requires registration\nand annual reports to be filed<\/a> with\nexpenditure of foreign funds. NGOs can be disbanded if their activities\njeopardise peace, stability and public order or harm the national security,\nnational unity, culture and traditions of Cambodian society\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Israel\nhas passed a NGO Law\u201d t to stigmatize left-wing and human rights organizations\nin <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Israel\nas agents of foreign powers. The law singles out NGOs that receive the majority\nof their funding from foreign state entities, and is -fascistic law that harms\ndemocracy and silences dissent Israeli NGOs\ncritical of the government \u2013 in particular the country\u2019s continued occupation\nof the Palestinian territories \u2013 are facing severe new restrictions amid a\ntoxic political climate on the right that has sought to label them as disloyal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are many reports indicating that the\nso-called NGO promoters, advocates of cooked up human rights violations, fund\nproviders for subversive activities and who claim that they are more open to civil\nsociety such as the UK, Ireland, Australia also have restrictive measures\nagainst public opinion and against groups advocating accountability and .fair\ndealings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In response to these Laws and Regulations the UN\nhas appointed Maina Kiai as a special rapporteur to focus on freedom of\nexpression and assembly. The EU organised a global forum of more than 200 civil\nsociety participants last December. Development branches of western\ngovernments, foundations and global NGOs are training and advising local groups\non how to respond to new restrictions. Amnesty International has identified\ndefending NGOs and human rights campaigners as one of its five strategic goals,\nand will launch a global campaign next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similar to restrictions aforementioned exist in\nmany countries elaboration restricted for space control and now let us\nconcentrate on the reprehensive activities being carried out by foreign and\nterrorist servile NGOs in Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nbiggest folly of the Ranil\/TNA government was making leading persons\nfinancially sound and their cronies who are keenly interested on certain fields\nthe Minister of such subjects similar to the adage seeking divine solutions\nfrom the mother of the thief\u201d (Horage ammagen Pena ahanawa).  Mano Ganeshan reportedly was a NGO head\nallegedly receiving funds from the terrorist diaspora and was responsible for\ninventing the diatribe relating to the absurd story about abduction of Northern\nby white vans when they visit Colombo. \nWhen the joint opposition MP Udaya Gammanpila persistently raised the question in Parliament and demand to furnish details\nof white van abductions, names of victims and dates andplaces of such\nabductions the official government spokesman responded having dodged the\nquestions several times saying that there had been no such abductions\nreported.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Minister of Justice Mr. Wijedasa proposed that the NGOs and\nINGOs must be regulated, this NGO-wala said that he preferred the term\nfacilitated instead of regulated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ganeshan said that after he took\noffice he has taken very many steps to ease the pressures in them as earlier\nthe NGOs were considered as \u2018traitors\u2019 and \u2018enemies\u2019. He said that he has given\nstrict instructions to the Director-General of the NGO Secretariat and his\nstaff to consider NGOs and INGOs as partners in the state building. He stated\nthat he has blessings from the Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe who has\nclearly stated that this country is open to anyone and is not a fascist or\nautocratic country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At a press conference organized by the Collective of Civil\nSociety Organizations Executive Director of the Center for Policy Alternatives\n(CPA) and a Co-Convener of the Platform for Freedom, the notorious foreign\nservile anti-Sri Lankan Dr Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, said that civil society\nwas \u2018shocked\u2019 and \u2018stunned\u2019 that such a Cabinet paper could be presented and\nendorsed by the Government.  He said that the effect of the Cabinet\nPaper was to consider legislation that was so extensive and comprehensive in\nterms of all civil society actors.  He said the restrictions\nenvisaged by the amendment would have had a chilling effect on civil society\nand would run completely contrary to the promises and commitments made by the\nGovernment with respect to good governance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the draft amendment the NGO Secretariat is able to\ninvestigate complaints of misconduct in NGOs, criminal activities including\nterrorist financing and money laundering.  The Secretariat also has the\npowers to enter and inspect premises of NGOs.   Further, the\nSecretariat can obtain information related to financial activities of NGOs from\nbanks.  The draft has also proposed further offences  for NGOs for actions, such as\nnon-registration, not giving a publication of the organization and not\nproviding information, that could have been administratively corrected. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nishantha Prithviraj of the Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement said\nthat the proposed draft amendment weakened people\u2019s sovereignty. He pointed out\nthe draft amendment was drafted without consulting civil society and was an\ninjustice to civil society and the public at large. (Just see the actual status of the peo[;e\u2019s sovereignity under the\nRanil\/TNA government?  Amendment or\nintroduction of legislation should be drafted in consultation with civil society!)<\/strong>\n He said existing laws could be used to deal with malpractices within\norganizations if there were any.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The NGO named National Peace Council (NPC) is one of the worst\nanti Sri Lankan, anti<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buddhist and anti-Sinhalese NGOs in this country. Activities of NPC\nin the past are well known and Jehan Perera, who is the  Executive Director of the NPC, and is\nreportedly employed by the Norwegian government, for several years were\nattending the UNHRC sessions in Geneva lecturing against Sri Lanka and holding\nspecial meetings with foreign representatives attending the UNHRC  sessions attempting to convince them that the\nLTTE is only a people\u2019s liberation organization, not a terrorist organization,\nand they are fighting to liberate the Tamil people of Sri Lanka from what he\ncalled oppressions, discriminations and \ninhuman  treatment of the Sri\nLankan security forces which he claimed are forcibly occupying the lands\nbelonging to Tamils  and denying them\nfreedom to pursue with their livelihoods. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even\non 7th<\/sup> January, this Norway employed Jehan Perera writing an article\nto the Island newspaper under the title Uniformity in governance is important\nfor development drawing attention to President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa\u2019s Throne\nSpeech stated that although the first month of the\nnew government has had many positive features to it, some of the government\u2019s\nrecent actions will not inspire confidence that the government is focused on\nimplementing consistent policies. Instead it is giving the impression that it\nis tailoring policies to fit a political agenda, and they are  tend to engage in actions that have short\nterm gains in mind even at the cost of the country\u2019s long term future. He\nstated that there are several negative actions currently taking place that\ncould potentially detract from the positive motivations of the government in\nseeking to enhance national security and promote development. He claims the\npresident\u2019s vision of rapid economic development as the solution to the\ncountry\u2019s problems, including its ethnic conflict, will become more difficult\nto achieve under these circumstances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this article, he strongly criticises Police actions against\ncertain offensive MPs, delivering the inaugural address from Anurdhapura, and\nconstitutional amendments being envisaged by the President and the President\u2019s\npromise to be the he sarcastically says that it ought to be his destiny to lead\nSri Lanka on the right path instead of permitting partisan politics to lead the\ncountry astray, as it led his predecessors astray.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nNPC, whose annual funding is said to be in excess of 126 millions SL Rupees is\nfunded by the USAID (Main contributor), MISEREOR  (The German Catholic\nBishops\u2019 Organisation for Development Coorporation), Asia Foundation, European\nInstrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) ,US Department of State\n,Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD),  SPICE-MSI, FOKUS\n(based on the information provided in NPC website, Financial Report 2017).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nwebsite of the above funding agency the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development\ngives CAFOD\u2019s mission as promoting human development and social justice in\nwitness to Christian faith and Gospel values. Depending entirely on foreign\ngovernments and agencies they carry on the White Man\u2019s Burden and have a\nfunction similar to Christian missionaries during the high colonial era. The 10\nmember Governing Council of this NGO has only 2 members with Sinhala names.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most\nof the foreign funded NGOs were established in Sri Lanka during the war against\nLTTE terrorism.  Most of these NGOs have engaged in brainwashing the\npeople of Sri Lanka promoting federalism (or indirectly separatism).  For\nexample, National Peace Council (NPC), considered in their vision statement\npublished prior to the defeat of terrorism, the LTTE as an integral part of\n\u2018their so-called solution\u2019.  Clearly the NPC and similar ilk wanted to\nwhitewash the LTTE and bring it out as a civilised entity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These\npeace mongers and their colonial masters in the West were behind the propaganda\non behalf of Tamil racism in general and the LTTE in particular. Their\nactivities parallel the LTTE\u2019s global propaganda campaign against the\ngovernment of Sri Lanka and its people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nIsland dated March 4, 2011 under the heading Foreign funds galore for three\nNGOs\u201d stated that 3 Sri Lankan NGOs received over Rs. 600million in 3 years and\nNorway was the leading donor\u201d, The article revealed how a section of the\ninternational community was pouring money into Sri Lankan NGOs like the Centre\nfor Policy Alternatives (CPA) and National Peace Council (NPC), Transparency\nInternational Sri Lanka, in spite of the conclusion of war against by our\ngallant security forces in May, 2009.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As per the report, the CPA has received\nRs. 272.31 million during the 2008-2010 periods. The NPC and TI have received\nRs. 171.23 million and 174.79 million, respectively. However, it is said that\nthe country\u2019s banking system has no records of the exact amount of funds\nreceived by NGOs over the past two to three decades. Some sources said that an\nenormous amount of funds had been received by NGOs since Feb. 2002, with some\ncountries and the UNDP providing funds to the LTTE Peace Secretariat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pakyasothy\nSarawanamuttu, the CEO of the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) also has a\nsimilar reprehensive record of carrying out various activities against Sri\nLanka.  Even during the recent Swiss Hoax\nhe had made statements to NewYork Times accusing the Sri Lanka government and\njustifying the Swiss allegations saying that the Swiss Embassy employee Garnier\nBarrister Francis could have been abducted by the agents of the government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Popular\nopinion indicate that although the NPC and other NGOs were playing lead roles\nduring the Chandrika-Ranil failed regimes, and later during the Ranil-Sirisena\nyamapalana regime, attempting to brainwash the country from top political\nhierarchy to grass roots level, spending billions of rupees, the mass support\nreceived from the general public to eradicate terrorism in 2009 and to chase\naway  the above notorious regimes at the end of their terms  are\nclear proofs that the peace loving people of Sri Lanka are wiser than the\nso-called foreign servile and foreign funded PEACE prophets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A\nregular contributor to the Island newspaper Mr. M. Arukgoda in his latest\narticle to the Island states that the latest mission, after the failure of\nearlier vision, of these NGOs is said to be the work towards a political\nsolution to the so-called ethnic conflict, reconciliation etc. He says\nthat a few months after the elimination of the LTTE terror from our soil, we\nhad every reason to believe that some notable elements of the US and their\nallies were rapidly making a case of war crimes against Sri Lanka on the basis\nof the conduct of her armed forces as well as political leadership. One of the\nmotivations of this action is to cover-up their own continuing armed conflicts\non large scales, involving major humanitarian catastrophes and causing the\ndeath of large numbers of civilians due to military actions in Iraq,\nAfghanistan and in some areas of Pakistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr.\nArukgoda reveals that on 28th August 2009, the two kingpins of NGOs were\nreported addressing a close-door meeting convened by the US Institute of Peace\n(USIP). Another notable participant of this discussion was Teresita Schaffer of\nThe Centre for Strategic and international Studies, one of the former US\nAmbassadors to Sri Lanka, who was very critical of the Sri Lankan government\nduring her tenure of office in Sri Lanka. As per media reports, the duos from\nthe two NGOs basically said at a meeting, in Washington D.C. with former\nAmbassador to Sri Lanka, Mr. Robert Blake, was what Blake wanted them to say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After\nfew months of these meetings, Ban Ki-moon appointed a panel to advice him on\nSri Lanka\u2019s alleged war crime charges and European Union gave conditional\nultimatum on GSP <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plus.\nThus these NGOs are the promoters of the notorious UNHCR Resolution welcomed by\ntheir yahapalanaya government and soon after the appointment of Ban Ki-moon\npanel, these Peace Vendors were back in the business by issuing statements one\nafter the other to the foreign and local press supporting the Ban KI-moon\u2019s\npanel and the EU\u2019s conditions and condemning the actions of the Sri Lankan\nGovernment and its people as was usually done by them during the past and they\nstarted, once again, advocating solutions. The solutions they seek are from\noutside including foreign intervention. It is not surprising at all to learn\nthat those who live on foreign funding are for foreign intervention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr.\nArukgoda in conclusion of his article claims that three years ago Modi\u2019s\ngovernment in India revoked licences of 25 foreign funded NGOs over\n\u2018anti-national activities\u2019 and the  pool\nof foreign-funded bodies shrunk there by almost half in two years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nGovernment needs to be more concerned about the International NGOs (or INGOs).\nThese INGOs have two in-built components. There is the foreign funding\nprincipal and the local NGO agent. The donor functions from overseas and\nprovides the funds. The agent is engaged in the operations which could vary from\nbuilding up a School for Blind to conducting seminars (mainly in English) at\nthe five-star hotels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One\nof the most important aspects about these foreign donors is that the donor\nNGO\u2019s are not always non-governmental. For example, in Europe, there are many\nINGOs who receive 100% of its funds from their governments. In Canada, the\nGovernment has increasingly taken over the funding of Canadian NGOs. In Germany\nthere are the \u2018foundations\u2019 linked with the political parties. Invariably, all\nof them thus have definite political agendas of their own. Just look\naround.  You will be surprised to note\nthe number of foreign aided foundations\u201d are being held by UNP MPs. It is hard\nto find a UNP MP without a foreign funded foundation in his name or in the name\nof their spouses.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\ntime is very opportune for the government of President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa to\nban immediately all leading anti-national NGOs, confiscate their assets, freezr\ntheir bank accounts and prosecute the leading figures for spreading anti-Sri\nLankan propaganda and causing damage to the image of the country.  It is the wish of all peace loving, patriotic\nmasses since a long time and it now lies as an obligation to be fulfilled by\nthe Prersident..<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(concluded)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By : A.A.M.NIZAM\u00a0 – MATARA. It was in 1980, the Government took the first step to enact the Voluntary Social Services Organisations (Registration and Supervision) Act. It sought to introduce a system of registration and supervision of activities of NGOs. However, this Act was not strictly implemented and the registration of NGOs was not strictly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-97559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aamnizam"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97559"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97559\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}