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A Statement from the Asian Human Rights Commission
A National Secretariat functioning under Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Defence and Urban Development has issued a curious letter on 1 July 2014. The following is the letter in full:
MINISTRY OF DEFENCE AND URBAN
DEVELOPMENT
National Secretariat for Non Governmental
Organizations
To
All Non Governmental Organizations
Non
Governmental Organizations acting beyond their
mandate
It has
been revealed that certain Non Governmental Organizations
conduct press conferences, workshops, training for
journalists, and dissemination of press releases which is
beyond their mandate.
We
reiterate that all Non Governmental Organizations should
prevent from such unauthorized activities with immediate
effect.
D.M.S.
Dissanayake
Director/Registrar
Director/Registrar
The letter comes as no
surprise. It is, however, rather funny.
Perhaps the next such
letter will include the following text:
It has been revealed
that certain Non-Governmental Organisations have members who
are breathing and still moving. We hereby call upon all of
them to cease from such unauthorized activities with
immediate effect.
This Ministry sees Sri
Lanka as a country of the dead. Such is the mentality of the
so-called Ministry of Defence and the pawns acting on behalf
of the Secretary to this Ministry. That the Sri Lankan
people should not think, should not speak, should not even
dream of expressing any view critical of the government, is
the ideal in the imagination of the Secretary to the
Ministry of Defence.
The way this Ministry is
handling affairs in Sri Lanka, there is nothing
unconscionable about shedding the blood of anyone who dares
to think or oppose the government in any manner. Anyone who
takes the trouble to make a list of those whose blood has
been shed in recent years, for no other reason than
expressing their protest against government policies, would
know that this Ministry means business when it issues such
letters. What the Ministry of Defence is trying to tell NGOs
that dare to express themselves –by conducting
conferences, workshops, training of journalists, and
disseminating press releases – is not only that the
gates of prison are open for them, but something more: that
they face dangers similar to what many other Sri Lankans
have faced already.
Holding a press conference,
conducting a workshop, training journalists (or anybody else
for that matter), and disseminating press releases are
actions available by right to any citizen of Sri Lanka.
Members of non-governmental organisations have the same
rights as anybody else.
The Ministry of Defence may
retort by stating that no such rights exist for anybody save
those undertaking such activities on behalf of the
government. The message of their vision – that of a
country where people enjoy rights only in their dreams
– is what the Ministry of Defence has been trying hard
communicate for a while now.
The problem for the
Ministry is that there are still those who believe in such
dreams, those who struggle in their own ways to turn this
dream into reality, and those who still wish to call a spade
a spade, i.e. a dictatorship a dictatorship.
The Director that signed
the letter in question may want to say that he has done
something kind by sending a warning before going on to do
something worse.
Every corner of Sri Lanka
reverberates with such dark warnings.
The privilege of organizing
public meetings is a privilege that belongs only to those
organisations that have the patronage of the Ministry of
Defence. Organizations patronized so even have the privilege
of using such meetings to provoke public violence. It is for
organisations such as the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) – where
the leading monk can yell out calls for vengeance against
those he views as opponents – that the privilege of
free speech and assembly is granted by this Ministry.
There was once a time when
one could ask the Director who signed this letter what law
gave him the authorisation to issue it. It was possible to
call him before a court of law to answer how he had the
impertinence to issue such an order. Alas, such
possibilities, of asserting the authority of the law against
the perversity of the government, are luxuries no longer
available for Sri Lankans.
When a mad dog circles the
neighbourhood, everyone has a reasonable fear of catching
rabies. When authorities in charge of law enforcement
agencies lose their sanity, every citizen has a reasonable
fear of the arbitrary use of violence. When a government
ministry goes to the extent of issuing such a letter, it is
a warning to one and all about how deep the government has
sunk into disorder. Now is the time for all forces opposing
the government to call for an end to such arbitrariness, to
this insanity.
