Mano Ganesan’s NGO Secretariat restricts freedom of organisation in Batticaloa

Community organizations, civil groups and local NGOs operating in Batticaloa have been recently instructed not to undertake any humanitarian assistance project without informing and securing permission in advance from the district-level officials of the unitary State of genocidal Sri Lanka. The move is being spearheaded through the NGO Secretariat, which SL Minister Mano Ganesan claims as being organized under his ministry of “National Co-existence, Dialogue and Official Language”. However, the move is being controlled by the so-called State Intelligence Service (SIS) of occupying Colombo, informed sources in Batticaloa said. The latest move has also connections with certain Colombo-based NGO outfits that are funded by the West. In recent times, Special Task Force (STF), the notorious counter-insurgency arm of occupying Colombo, has also been harassing the organisations in the district.

The district organizer of the Consortium of the Humanitarian Agencies (CHA), which is operated by a Colombo-based ‘good governance’ and ‘development’ outfit, Centre for Humanitarian Affairs (Gurantee) Ltd., is also the chairman of the so-called Civil Society Federation, which is the district-level arm of the SL State-owned NGO Secretariat. The same personality is also overseeing the activities of the Community Protection Network (CPN) in the district.

The pattern exposes how funded outfits also collaborate with the SL State agenda of genocidal Sri Lanka at district-level, the sources further told TamilNet.

The SIS operating under direct instructions from the SL Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe is also controlling the NGO Secretariat of Mano Ganesan’s ministry to control the organisations in the North-East.

The SIS was formerly known as the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB).

The corporate outfit of CHA claims “good governance, civic liberties and sustainable development” as its focus area.

If the local CBOs, civil organisations and NGOs are to continue operating in the district, they need to have a registered permission with the SL Ministry through the NGO Secretariat. The ‘privilege’ of registration would be revoked if the organisations failed to obtain project-by-project permission from the District Secretary, the organisations have been told.

The underlying motive seems to be political manipulation of masses through controlling the organisations at district-level, political observers in Batticaloa said adding that funding and privileges are being deployed to compromise the freedom of organisations that has already been threatened by surveillance of the occupying Sinhala military and Police.