In an unusual order that doesn’t appear to have a precedence at least in Sri Lanka, President Rajapaksa government has asked Non-Government Organisation (NGOs) who are in the voluntary service sector not to speak to the media. No press releases, no press conferences, no workshops or training sessions with journalists, they have been told firmly and clearly.
Well, this is a gag order, which NGOs did not face even during the colonial rule.
The order was formally issued on July 8, 2014, by D. M. S. Dissanayake, who heads the National Secretariat of NGOs. His designation is Director. This particular office is under the defence ministry.
The letter read: “It has been revealed that certain NGOs conduct news conferences, hold workshops, train journalists, and issue news releases, which is beyond their mandate. All NGOs should desist from such unauthorized activities with immediate effect.”
Army spokesman Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasooriya, has played down the directive. At a briefing in Colombo, he rubbished the alarm sounded by some quarter. "What is new (in it)", he asked. And added: "It is just a reminder of the mandate in force. Nothing new".
The Brigadier is right. The order essentially reiterated an existing decree. But fact of the matter is the mandate as the army spokesman calls it, did not inhibit the NGOs from being media friendly all these years. News conferences, workshops, and press release have been a part of their forte though successive governments have never been shy of harassing them, if we go by the claims of NGOs.
The “reminder” this time around is being taken seriously because Sri Lanka is passing through unusual times. Prodded by the United States of America, the UN Human Rights Council has constituted a panel of international experts to probe the war crimes allegedly committed during the period of Eelam War covered by the LLRC investigations.
Several NGOs, both home grown and Diaspora-led, have been at the forefront of the campaign for war crimes probe. So is the government trying to silence the NGOs ahead of the visit of UNHRC probe team? A journalist put this question to military spokesman. Pat came the reply. “There is no such thing (gag plan)”, Brigadier Ruwan told the questioner.
Whatever be the motives of the United States and its allies at the UNHRC, the undeniable fact is Colombo doesn’t want the NGOs in particular to strike at it over the western shoulders in case the UNHRC investigators arrive in the city for “gathering facts”.
These concerns of the government can be understood and even appreciated but does it need to go to the extent of gagging an entire sector with a blanket decree that makes no exception, and places all NGOs on the same bench. In the process, it seeks to control a sector, which has covered itself with some glory particularly after the Eelam War ended in 2009.
Sri Lanka has more than 1,000 NGOs- national and international- engaged in diverse social and humanitarian activities.. Till three decades ago, they used to be registered with the health and social services ministry. After the war NGOs control shifted to the defence ministry for reasons which are unclear at least on record.
During the last two years of the final push against the LTTE, even the International Red Cross came under restrictions; it was prevented from operating in Vanni. Critics say this ban was aimed at preventing the “war crimes” from coming to public notice. Government denies the charge. For them the ban on IRC activities was part of a strategy to compel the Tamils to move out of the war zone on their own by literally starving them and depriving them of medical assistance.
Once the NGO secretariat came under defence ministry control in April 2010, NGO registration, their funding, and activities became subject of vetting and surveillance by the military intelligence. Any remote possibility of criticism of the government and its functionaries became a no go area with the military sleuths erecting road block for any such adventure.
A case in point is what had happened to plans of Transparency International (TI) to hold a workshop for journalists in the month of May (2014).
The venue for the workshop was a hotel at Polonnaruwa in North Central Province. It was cancelled abruptly. Reason: military’s orders to the hotel management. A month later in June, the TI held a workshop in a Colombo suburb only to beat a hasty retreat after an angry mob turned up in what was no more than battle gear.
How things would shape up ahead is difficult to crystal gaze. For their part, the NGOs Collective of Civil Society has resolved to put up a fight. “We, as part of civil society, have the right to freedom of speech and association”, it said and declared its resolve to ignore the “gag” order.
—Ram Singh Kalchuri
