( In this December 2014 photo President Sirisena is accepting media freedom proposals of the Free Media Movement, a media activist NGO in Sri Lanka)
Addressing the International Conference on Right to Information (RTI) held in Colombo on 27th Sep President Sirisena has said that “for many governments around the world, the harm caused by certain NGOs have contributed to their instability”. Bu the has not elaborated on his point or has not given any examples.
He has further praised the anti NGO policy of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying that he too has commented on the activities of NGOs and while as a government”. It is well known fact that Modi has been anti human rights NGOs for exposing his racist rule in Gujarat. Under his tenure thousands of Muslims were killed in Gujarat with total impunity.
While acknowledging important role NGOs play, he has said that ” we also note that there are many NGOs that do not function according to the mandate they have been registered for.” “For many governments around the world, the harm caused by certain NGOs have contributed to their instability,”the President has also said.
Sirisena was supported by nearly 100 Sri Lankan NGOs in his presidential campaign and during that campaign he never made any such comments.
The Daily News report can be accessed here