Opinion:

Corrupt NGO carrion birds, loathsome campaigns

by Dilrook KANNANGARA

If there is one ministry that is working well, that is the Defence Ministry. Having achieved incredible success over the years that were rumoured by the NGO machinery as unachievable, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has brought peace to the country.

Peace for Sri Lanka’s children, a huge achievement

Each year over 4,000 people get to live. If not for the Ministry of Defence under the incumbent Defence Secretary, more than 12,000 young lives would have been lost to war. Today most killings result from accidents, domestic disputes and other personal disputes. There is nothing the Ministry of Defence can do about these.

In addition to the noble task of achieving peace, the Defence Secretary as the Urban Development Authority (UDA) head turned Colombo, which was an eyesore previously, into a cleaner city. Various illegal activities that thrived in the backstreets of Colombo have now disappeared.

It must be remembered that before the incumbent Defence Secretary took over, there was a time when well-known underworld murderers were appointed ministry secretaries (that too for the Education Ministry under Ranil Wickremesinghe!); a notorious drug baron was appointed police chief and had to resign when the media reported his friendship with a top heroin dealer; scores of policemen and unarmed civilians were killed even inside police stations; judges were slain by drug lords and the Constitutional Affairs Minister had to call a terrorist leader by the title ‘Your Excellency’. These things changed, not by accident, but by the hard work of the Ministry of Defence, ably led by the Defence Secretary.

When controversial and colourful UNP MP Mangala Samaraweera demanded the Defence Secretary to resign, he was not alone. He is supported by a large drone of NGO carrion birds that have now lost the feast of corpses they used to enjoy.

The LTTE rump has channelled their $300 million to NGOs, video production firms, Western politicians, website developers and law firms. Their aim is to get the Army presence in the north thinned and the Defence Secretary ousted so that they can restart their terrorist campaign. Local NGO carrion birds dance to their tune for a few thousand dollars a month.

‘White-vanning’

There is a popular allegation against ‘white vans’ being used by persons connected with the Ministry of Defence to threaten, hurt and/or kill.

This is an absurd allegation. During the war against terrorism, there were many incidents of various parties abducting and killing people, mainly done by LTTE groups. However, afterwards, not a single person died from what is alleged to be ‘white van’ abductions. It is a popular escape route for many unscrupulous criminals.

Alleged ‘white van’ abductions get sympathy and international recognition and are a magic bath that cleanses any criminal of his criminal record. These are mere made-up stories or self-staged dramas. When the victims - most often criminals - are asked to provide details of their abductors, their surroundings or anything that would help in an investigation, they go blank! So called victims of ‘white vans’ even fail to report the matter to the police.

Justice and security are everyone’s responsibility. So called victims of abduction cases must come forward with their evidence without pointing fingers at innocents. Strangely, it is drug dealers, contract killers, terrorist elements, underworld gangsters, prostitution ring leaders and the like that get ‘white-vanned’ when law enforcement is nearing them! The few innocents who were abducted by criminal elements have all been accounted for and the culprits taken into custody, irrespective of their rank.

The alleged abduction of serial killer, JVP subversive member and the offender of multiple felonies - Gunaratnam aka Mudalige and his accomplice Dimuthu Atigala is another concocted story that grabbed headlines. When Gunaratnam aka Mudalige came to realise he has overstayed his visa and committed other crimes and that he will be caught, he staged a ‘white van’ drama, but appeared soon afterwards without any serious health issues. Thanks to the ‘white van’ drama and the publicity it received, this serious felony offender managed to escape justice once again.

As absurd as the ‘white van’ myth, the grease devil myth caused serious havoc in many parts of the country. People arbitrarily attacked persons calling them grease devils. Often public anger was carefully channelled against the Government.

Once again, the so called victims failed to report the crime to the police and were very protective of the ‘grease devils’! They ensured that the so called ‘grease devils’ are not identified or punished. Instead they attacked police officers and other unconnected parties.

There were a few key operatives behind the ‘grease devil’ madness. Once they were brought to justice, the whole saga ended as it started. Had the grease devil saga continued, it would have snowballed into a nationwide witch hunt of arbitrary executions and riots.

War crimes allegations

The LTTE-funded NGO carrion birds’ initial avenue of attack was through war crimes allegations. However, after the UNHRC adopting the LLRC report and shedding the Darusman report, their luck ran out.

With the adoption of the LLRC report by the UNHRC, it became clear to them that war crimes allegations against innocents including the Defence Secretary are not going anywhere. That’s when they started making ludicrous allegations.

Some seem to have a funny definition of threats. Recently the Defence Secretary told Nirmal Devasiri - a well-known NGO activist - to seek the avenues of law enforcement to trace alleged criminals and bring them to justice. The NGO media reported it as a threat!

Grease devils, white vans, alleged threats and other antics won’t be the last in their bag. They will come up with various other fancy allegations.

It will be better for those who maliciously blame the Defence Secretary to hand over their absconding JVP leaders and Batalanda mass murderers with admissible evidence so that justice can be delivered at least after a quarter of a century later. Crimes they committed against civilians are war crimes.

LTTE-sponsored NGO money cannot fool the people who don’t get any NGO benefits. Most Sri Lankans are very grateful to the Defence Secretary for his noble achievements on behalf of the nation. To the good fortune of Sri Lankans, they have the incumbent Defence Secretary who cannot be swayed by threats and malicious propaganda.

Sri Lankans who love their motherland and law and order must separate fact from fiction and identify the NGO carrion birds that would do anything for a few thousand dollars. During the war against terrorism a group of political journalists who paddled the LTTE cause, found their readers deserting them.

Pulling another trick from their hat, they blamed the Armed Forces of threatening them, to seek asylum in rich Western nations. Most of them got their visas. It was a good economic decision to save face at a time people came to know their true nature.

To continue their enterprise, they call themselves ‘self-exiled’ but visit Sri Lanka regularly and have launched a malicious campaign against the nation. By being closer to the LTTE rump, they now get a share of the $300 million directly bypassing agents.

Courtesy: defence.lk