CLASSIFIED | POLITICS | TERRORISM | OPINION | VIEWS

INGO/NGO BLOOD-SUCKERS & THEIR DILEMMA

By Darmitha-Kotte

A Joint-Statement titled " Abrogation of Ceasefire Agreement Will Escalate Spiral of Violence" has been published in the English & Sinhala newspapers on 28th & 29th January 2008.(quote): "The government's decision to abrogate the Norwegian-facilitated Ceasefire Agreement(CFA) signed with the LTTE in 2002 is a matter of grave concern to the undersigned civil society organizations."(end quote)

Who may these "civil society organizations" be? They are: Association of War Affected Women; Centre for Society and Religion; Centre for Human Rights and Development, Colombo; Centre for Women and Development-Jaffna; Christian Alliance for Social Action; Consortium for Humanitarian Agencies; Equal Grounds, Sri Lanka; INFORM; Home for Human Rights, Colombo; Human Development Organization, Kandy; International Centre for Ethnic Studies; International Movement Against Discrimination and Racism; Law & Society Trust; Mothers & Daughters of Lanka; Mannar Women for Human Rights and Democracy; Muslim Information Centre Sri Lanka; Muslim Women's Research and Action Forum; National Peace Council; Rights Now Collective for Democracy; SETIK, Kandy; Women and Media Collective.

These "civil society organizations" have conveniently left out some others who also belong to this "civil society organization" status like Foundation for Peaceful Co-existence, Anti-War Front, Prayathnaya, Sarvodaya etc who have other agendas of their own and at this point wish to be separated from the rest of the bandwagon! Take a look at the names of these "civil society organizations" and you can easily say that 90% of these are all who were created in this country due to the 30 years of LTTE atrocities and have thrived and profited at the expense of the sufferings of an entire nation. If they are genuine in their fears of bloodshed, then they should be the first to hail the government, in the effort to wipe out terrorism from this country- isn't that so?

Their statement states many inaccuracies in order to shed "crocodile tears" and pretend that they truly are speaking on behalf of the suffering majority of Sri Lanka. Referring to the CFA and the benefits they state "……………..Instead of such negotiations, for the past two years the government and LTTE vocally supported a ceasefire but actually engaged in a high level of hostilities tantamount to war, including mounting human rights violations, the overrunning of forward defence lines, capture of territory, artillery, sea and air bombing, and the large scale displacement of people." We wonder why they have such short memories? The UNP government of Ranil Wickramasinghe gave the LTTE a "Carte Blanche" permit to do as they wished without even having the decency to get a referendum from the people of Sri Lanka who voted him into power.

The Norwegians and LTTE drafted the agreement and Ranil Wickramasinghe merely signed it in agreement in 2002 without even consulting the Executive President of our country( not that she is to be respected but still she held supreme executive powers at the time). Cosmetically, LTTE and UNP government of the time held talks giving maximum exposure for the benefit of LTTE terrorists to get international contact by holding the talks in any given location of their choice! By May 2003 this wonderful CFA under Ranil Wickramasinghe had already collapsed after the Tokyo conference and LTTE did exactly as they wished with impunity and with the express support of the SLMM.

All the while, almost all international organizations working inside Sri Lanka and the Norwegian brokered SLMM turned a blind eye to the atrocities of the LTTE terrorists. So did all these so called "civil society organizations." They are trying to make it out, that President Rajapakse's government was instrumental in the breakdown of peace talks when they state "……………..Instead of such negotiations, for the past two years the government and LTTE vocally supported a ceasefire but actually engaged in a high level of hostilities tantamount to war, including mounting human rights violations, the overrunning of forward defence lines, capture of territory, artillery, sea and air bombing, and the large scale displacement of people." This is a total fabrication and intentional lie on the part of these INGOs/NGOs. Since May of 2003 there were no peace talks because LTTE terrorists do not want any other life other than a life through which they wreak terror, bloodshed and misery for their own survival.

According to the Joint Statement it is stated "The signing of the CFA brought numerous benefits to the citizens of Sri Lanka. It ushered in a period of relative peace, allowing civilians directly affected by the conflict the opportunity to rebuild their lives, homes and livelihood." What we know of this agreement and the benefits, is that it certainly did benefit the LTTE terrorists because the A9 Road was re-opened which gave the terrorists a daily revenue of Rs.4-5million per day as "entry collection money" at the Wanni entry point for them to amass even more weaponry, to continue their atrocities.

It also gave them the opportunity to "collect Kappang Money" from all business operations that commenced during the time but, instilled fear in the minds of those who went to work on those projects because their lives were never secure unless, these Contractors did according to the instructions of the LTTE leaders. We are also not sure of the so called "relative peace" or "rebuild their lives, homes and livelihood" that these civil society organizations are talking about. What we do know, is that Tamil parents living in the North and East were mortally afraid of even sending their children to school for fear that their children would be kidnapped by the terrorists and taken to join the "Child Brigade of the LTTE." Many are the photos we have seen of parents wailing in front of their dead family members. We also saw how civilians were killed in bomb blasts for no reason?

The Joint Statement also states "As civil society organizations deeply concerned about peace and human rights we all supported the CFA." If they were so concerned, how much have they been able to prevail upon the blood-thirsty terrorists who have violated all accepted norms of human rights for them to stop their atrocities and get back to civilian life of peace and harmony?

In this Joint Statement it is stated "….While there is a clear need to make political negotiations to find a settlement to the ethnic conflict more inclusive by including non-LTTE Tamil parties in political talks, it cannot be done at the cost of eliminating the LTTE from the dialogue. The danger inherent in the government's position, especially in the event of a total rejection of the past process with the LTTE, is that it is paving the way for a fight to the finish where the costs can be very high, success is not guaranteed, and no fall back position will be available.

We regret that the role played by the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission(SLMM) established under the CFA has also come to an end with the abrogation of the Ceasefire Agreement. Although the international monitors of the SLMM were unable to prevent all acts of war and human rights violations from taking place, we recognize that the SLMM was a crucial third party that was able to be physically present in the conflict zones, record incidents, and report them to the conflicting parties and the international community. …. The SLMM's removal now puts the populations in both the North and the South more at risk.

The government rejection of a UN Human Rights field presence, the inability of the Commission of Inquiry(COI) and the International Independent Group of Eminent Persons(IGEP)to make meaningful progress in discharging their mandates, and the inability of the National Human Rights Commission to fulfill its mandate and duties, combine to place respect for human rights in Sri Lanka in further jeopardy…….." They seem to be dismayed by the gruesome murders of T. Mahesweran not necessarily of D.M.Dissanayake (who was a government Minister) and the escalation of war and urge "..all members of the international community who have been engaged in the advancement of peace through a negotiated settlement in Sri Lanka to stand by us at this difficult moment in our history and to use whatever modes of intervention they feel are appropriate to impress upon the government, the LTTE and all political actors in Sri Lanka the need to abandon the path of war and to return to a peace process immediately."

These NGOs/INGOs truly sound desperate in their SOS bid to mobilize international mediatories to stop the total annihilation of terrorism from this country! They do not for one moment recall how the so called pampering of LTTE terrorists through a long period of 30 years have not brought any perceivable " peace" to Sri Lanka nor do they admit, that with all the organizations listed above who are party to this desperate appeal having been in operation for nearly 3 decades, they have failed miserably to get the LTTE terrorists to see that "peace talks are necessary" and that laying down arms is mandatory if there is to be real and true peace in this country.

Terrorism was born and bred through the instigation and training of arms manufacturing countries of the west who have fanned sentiments of dissention, for them to profit from war. They have wreaked havoc in almost all South East Asian/ African developing countries in their bid to breakdown social and cultural norms of those countries. Having done that, having brought misery into these originally peaceful and prosperous countries- then they also talk about human rights, civil order, peace etc in another bid for them to come up with other "projects and organizations" through which they can benefit through our misery!

Of the 24 so called "civil society organizations" who have signed this Joint Statement nearly 13 have some form of human rights, peace or humanitatian meaning in their NGO/INGO names and without a doubt, they have been in existence during the last 3 decades. Of these organizations, we also see 2-3 Christian organizations who have also their own agendas to fulfill in this whole LTTE terrorist operation of fanning chords of dissention to destabilize this country for their own religious agendas using the LTTE.

It is ironic and at the same time rather humorous, that these 24 organizations ( there are many more of them having hidden agendas who have not included their names in this list) which formed themselves with the express objective of " bringing human rights and peace to Sri Lanka" or atleast say so for their own survival, have not been able to achieve their targets for 30 years of bringing in peace and respect for human rights even with their existence in this country. Together with them, there have been so many more international bodies that have also been earning profits through our misery in the name of "humanitarian and peace" projects.

First and foremost, they must be honest and ask the question "what have we achieved in this country after 3 decades of earning money for this cause?" Having failed to show positive results, they have to acknowledge the fact that terrorists only need war to eliminate them from this country if true progress, prosperity and peace are to be achieved in Sri Lanka without being utterly hypocritical.

It is because the current government saw how the LTTE terrorists were manipulating the international bodies, governments and "peace maniacs" with their false propaganda, that they decided to go ahead with eliminating terrorism from this country without permitting more INGOs and NGOs to suck the last drop of our blood for their profits. This government also takes into consideration the fact, that LTTE terrorists are not the SOLE REPRESENTATIVES of the Tamil Community in Sri Lanka and they can never be so given their track record of untold atrocities against their own community. No sane minded Tamil who lives among the Sinhalese in the south with no harm to him, will ever consider the LTTE terrorist organization as their sole representative.

During this long period of terrorist war we have all seen how all international bodies, foreign western governments and INGOs as well as NGOs have been working with "pro-LTTE agendas" to undermine the sovereign and democratically elected governments of Sri Lanka. What earthly good can further foreign intervention in this conflict, do for Sri Lanka? Nothing unfortunately and this is the blaring and blatant truth!

We have been foolish enough to swallow all the " peace" and "humanitarian" pills that have been administered to us and it is now time to stop this medication and "go in for a course of medication" that terrorists understand- and that is all out campaign to eliminate terrorism as well as " blood suckers in the form of INGOs and NGOs" who are bleeding our country dry with their manipulations. Let us decide on what is best for us and let us not permit organizations run with foreign money dictate to us what we should and must do- we have listened to this jargon for too long- "enough is enough" - If the LTTE terrorists are eliminated, who loses most- it is the organizations that have been earning profits from our misery- this is why they agitate now!

For Sri Lanka to get back to a peaceful path, all patriotic forces (outside INGOs and NGOs) must unite together with the majority Tamil peace loving community, Muslims, Malays, Sinhalese and Burghers and work towards bringing a workable solution. First, terrorism must be eliminated- then a nation building programme for the entire country.

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