NGOs and INGOs should quit Vanniya

by Prof. Nalin de Silva

(September 17, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) We have to postpone the series of articles on Science and related matters such as teaching of science in Sinhala, to make way for a discussion on the role of NGOs in Killinochchi. However, there is something that should be recorded without postponing to a future date. I supervise one Ph. D. student, two M. Phil. students and the "projects" of three final year students preparing for the B. Sc. (special) degree. They work in General Relativity, Cosmology and Quantum Mechanics, and the supervisor and the students communicate in Sinhala with each other, and I know that just as I do they also think in Sinhala. We may be using a few technical terms in English but apart from that the discussions are held in Sinhala.

The NGO and INGO personnel in Kilinochchi have been requested by the government to leave their places of work immediately, and gravitate towards Vavuniya and other such places. There is no voluntary work they are capable of doing under the present conditions and the government of Sri Lanka is correct in requesting the NGOs to leave these areas.

However, though the NGO and INGO personnel have "decided" to leave the area some "innocent people" have decided to have a field day and agitate against the decision of the good NGO and INGO personnel to leave the area. These elements have come with all the excuses to show that the presence of NGOs and INGOs is necessary for the so called humanitarian activities that the NGOs and INGOs have engaged in for the last so many years. The NGO and INGO Samaritans have decided to stay on after listening to the placard carrying "innocent people".

In the area these good Samaritans are engaged in humanitarian activities one of the most humane characters according to the former Bishop of the Anglican (Sri Lankan) Church is the so called supreme commander. He is capable of ordering the "innocent people" to stage a picket and block the path of the good Samaritans leaving the area. In any event the outcome of the protests is the reversal of the NGO and INGO Samaritans leaving the area surrounding Kilinochchi and thus giving protection to that "humane character" living in the bunkers of Vanni jungles. The activities of the NGOs and the INGOs are well known and it is quite clear that they are the last straw of the LTTE terrorists. The LTTE wants to use the people as a shield and wants the so called international community to guarantee that the people would remain in Vanniya even after the repeated calls by the government to leave the area.

The NGOs and the INGOs and their sponsors, the so called international community of disrepute that includes Norway which supplied the LTTE with heavy equipments under the pretext of supplying aid to the people, should realize that there is no war in this country and all the so called international covenants on war are not applicable to the situation here. In Sri Lanka a terrorist group partly armed by the westerners is fighting against the Sri Lankan government and the armed forces of the government have the inalienable right to protect the sovereignty of the country. The forces are doing their duty and no other agency should interfere with their activities.

The NGOs and the INGOs are not bound by the LTTE sponsored pickets and they are here on visas issued by the Sri Lankan government. If they are so humanitarian they should have asked the LTTE to allow the people to leave Vanniya without using them as a human shield. What is happening is that the NGOs and INGOs are also using the people as a human shield to justify their dishonourable presence in Vanniya.

We are not political babies not to understand who is behind Norway and the government should hold all the NGOs and INGOs in Vanniya and also Norway and the western countries behind it responsible for any civil casualties. It is the latter who finally prevent the people from leaving Vanniya and the western countries want to sacrifice their citizens working in Vanniya in order to protect the LTTE. If the USA and the other western countries are really against the LTTE terrorists as they claim then they should instruct all their citizens in Vanniya at present to leave the area and come to Vavuniya or even further south. We do not believe for a moment that the NGOs and the INGOs are there for humanitarian activities as the past record clearly tells us a different story.

If the western countries do not request their citizens to leave Vanniya immediately then we have to conclude that they are only shedding crocodile tears over the welfare of the people as it is the presence of the NGOs and the INGOs that give the protection needed by the LTTE. Further it is clear that the western countries do not care for the lives of their own citizens if they get an opportunity to help the LTTE in its fight against the Sri Lankan government.

The western countries are also fighting a last battle against Sinhala Buddhism which though not economically powerful, philosophically goes very deep and has the capability of creating a system of knowledge that would become a challenge to the western Christian modernity. They have helped Tamil Chauvinism from the very beginning not because they love the Tamils but since they could use it against Sinhala Buddhist culture.

Could somebody list the humanitarian activities of the NGOs and the INGOs during the past six months in Vanniya? They have helped the LTTE and their presence will also make sure that the LTTE can make use of all the equipment that the NGOs and the INGOs posses without using their cadres. The terrorists could fight the armed forces while the NGO and the INGOs help the LTTE with communication and other infrastructure activities. The NGOs and the INGOs by their presence in Vanniya make sure that the LTTE would use all the terrorists at its disposal directly against the armed forces. The westerners may also be waiting for an opportunity to attack the country under the pretext of saving the lives of their citizens working in the NGOs and the INGOs and also of the civilians in Vanniya. We have had five hundred years of experience with western Christian colonialism and we know what they are up to. The west who created and nurtured Tamil Chauvinism in this country against Sinhala people probably now want to be the last straw for them willingly. If the west is really concerned with the lives of their citizens and the people in Vanniya then they should ask their citizens to leave and allow the people to leave Vanniya. We would ask the NGOs and INGOs to quit Vanniya. By their presence they are only making the situation worse. - Sri Lanka Guardian