Sri Lanka’s Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa said he would like to meet non-governmental organisations openly critical of the government, reported the Daily Mirror.

Rajapaksa was speaking to representatives from 11 NGOs, who were involved in the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting and the Commonwealth People’s Forum, when he expressed an interest in meeting those groups.

The defence secretary urged the NGO community to discuss their issues with the NGO Secretariat, instead of “internationalising” them, and spoke about the “unwillingness” of NGOs to engage in dialogue with the government.

National Peace Council Executive Director Jehan Perera, who was one of those present at the meeting said, “It was a very cordial discussion but because it was the first meeting of its kind we did not go into details of the various suggestions that were made to improve the situation. But most importantly, the Defence Secretary himself requested and expressed an interest in meeting other NGOs including those that have been very critical of the Government.”

The discussions centred on the NGO Secretariat’s circular, restricting the activities of the organisations. Representatives of the NGOs expressed concerns regarding the circular, in response to which the defence secretary proposed the holding of regular meetings between the NGO Secretariat, which falls under his purview, and the NGOs.

The NGOs present included The Colombo District Business Development Co-op Society; Maternity and Child Life Development Foundation; Eco friendly Volunteers (ECO-V); The Sarvodaya Movement; Seva Lanka Foundation; Vanni Cultural Fund; National Peace Council; Centre for Poverty Analysis; Oferr Ceylon; Manawa Shakthi Padanama and the Human Rights Organisation of Sri Lanka.

In July Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Defence sent letters to all non-governmental organisations, demanding that they refrain from activities beyond their mandate, including press conferences, workshops, training for journalists, and the publication of press releases.

The letter, signed by Dissanayake, said NGOs should “prevent from such unauthorised activities with immediate effect”. 

Last month the Secretariat announced that four NGOs would be subject to investigations for failing to comply with the regulations.

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