SLRC DRIVER HAD LTTE CONNECTIONS(99 May 12)
Mr. Nagamani Easwarathasan the driver of the Sri Lanka Red Cross (SLRC) officialMr. Kishore who was arrested by the army has admitted that he has had connections with the LTTE and had transported banned items to Yapanaya in the SLRC vehicles. He has once obtained Rs. 50,000 from the LTTE to transport some restricted electronic items and medicines from Wattala to the LTTE cadres in Thunnukai. Apparently he has paid some Rs. 40,000 to a Sinhala soldier who had helped him in Vavuniyava.
The activities of the SLRC have to be investigated by the government. However the NGO's (who else?) have protested against any investigation claiming that it violates fundamental rights of people to organise themselves into volunteer associations. They are also against an act which gives the government the power to look into the activities of the NGO's. There is nothing wrong in investigating the activities of any organisation that function in the country and the NGO's should not be given the upper hand in these matters, to act, based on certain human rights laws practiced in European countries where the governments have established their hegemony.