29.7.2008

The controversial International Non Governmental Organization (INGO), Norwegian Peoples Aid (NPA) in a letter to Secretary Defence today (July 28), has informed that few of its vehicles had been forcibly taken over by the LTTE terrorists "few days" back and it had taken "Serious Action" to "recover these assets and prevent further recurrences". The INGO has finally decided to inform this incident to the Ministry of Defence, as a "response" to the revelation made by the defence.lk on Sunday (July 27). (LTTE terrorists use INGO vehicles for military activities - Kilinochchi)

The NPA states, without giving an exact date on which the LTTE had "stolen" nine of its heavy vehicles including; one excavator earth moving vehicle, one tractor with water bowser trailer, one Toyota Land Cruiser Jeep, one Tata Pickup vehicle, one Mitsubishi Canter twin-cab vehicle, two Ashok Leyland Trucks, one Tata 407 mini truck, and one Tata water tanker. Further, it states that it has no complicity with the terror group over this act of "theft".

The NPA expresses its "grave concerns" over the revelation made by the defence.lk but obviously not about the alleged "theft", complaining our news item it was written in a way "to insinuate compliance" on the part of their organization "in this act carried out by the LTTE". The letter signed by Mr. William Atkins, the Resident Representative of NPA - Sri Lanka, has requested the Defence Secretary's assistance "in correcting the inaccuracies and false innuendo reported in the said article on the Ministry of Defence website".

While conveying our regrets to the NPA over any hurt that our revelation may have caused to the expatriate and other staff of the INGO, we would like to point out that we had only reported the facts we received from a very reliable source in Wanni. As the NPA officials had chosen not to report the incident to the Ministry of Defence, Public Security, Law and Order of Sri Lanka or any law enforcement agency, for reasons best known to it, we were in the dark whether the said vehicles were taken "forcibly" or not. Hence, in our article we had only mentioned that the vehicles were "obtained" by the LTTE since the vehicles are now actually in the possession of the terrorist outfit. We purposefully refrained from making any comments over any possible indulgence that NPA officials might have had with the terrorists as no impartial inquiry would be possible in the area concerned. In fairness, we also reported what our sources said that the INGO claims the vehicles were taken over by the terrorist outfit; which is confirmed the NPA's letter. Therefore, we request the INGO officials to understand the fact that the said report was not written with any intention to offend them, and that there was certainly no false innuendo in it.

Nevertheless, we admit that there was a difference between the number of vehicles indicated by our source and the number claimed by the INGO. It should be noted that our source had based its reports on its observation rather than verifying the facts with the LTTE, which would have been unrealistic. Also, nine heavy vehicles mean a considerably large fleet for a terror outfit, and there is no exaggeration over the seriousness of the incident on our part. Had the NPA officials understood the seriousness of the situation and realized the importance of reporting the incident to the ministry of defence or any other law enforcement authority in the country, no sooner the alleged forcible removal of the vehicles took place, we would have reported the facts, as now stated. Indeed, we are grateful to the INGO officials for having finally decided to inform the Ministry of Defence about this matter.

According to the INGO, the theft had been suddenly discovered by an NPA expatriate operating from separate office situated in the same Kilinochchi town after several days of the theft. The vehicles had been utilised under the mine action program of the NPA and at the time of the theft they were stored at the NPA Mine action compound under its local staff.

The NPA arrived in Sri Lanka in 2002 with the CFA and carried out mine clearing operations in uncleared areas up to January 2008. The NPA claimed that it had taken considerable efforts to move its assets to the cleared areas but failed as the LTTE obstructed the process and the government did not give permission to its expatriate staff to visit uncleared areas.

The NPA, however informed the theft of vehicles in a letter to the Ministry of Nation Building and Infrastructure Development on Thursday (July 24) without mentioning any LTTE involvement with the incident. Thus, the defence.lk was unaware about any connection between the report they received from Wanni and the NPA's letter to the Nation Building Ministry.

NPA in its letter to the Ministry of Defence has informed that three vehicles, i.e. one Ashok Leyland Truck, one Tata 407 mini truck, and on Tafe Tractor had been returned. Now, the NPA has openly stated its objection to the LTTE, and also calls for an immediate return of its property and cessation of such acts of misappropriation of INGO assets by the terror outfit.

While appreciating the above statement, we would like to highlight the fact that these assets are now in the hands of a world's most barbaric terrorist outfit and are being used for terrorists activities against citizens of Sri Lanka. The Defence Ministry has throughout maintained its position that the INGO staffs have no power to protect their assets in areas under the clutches of terror. The Ministry has on several occasions requested the relevant NGOs and INGOs not to take excessive assets to the uncleared areas knowing the possibility that terrorists may misuse them. However, some INGO's and NGO's did not accept this realty but went on misinterpreting the Ministry's position as an attempt to restrict their activities. We consider the NPA's incident is an excellent example of such misuse of NGO property by a terrorist outfit. Therefore, as the website operating under the Ministry responsible for public security, we consider it is our responsibility to inform the public over such matters in way that represent their true gravity.