The Parliamentary Select Committee on NGOs and INGOs is to recommend the immediate appointment of a presidential task force to monitor the workings of these organisations and initiate action against them if they are found to be working against national interests.
The recommendation is contained in the committee’s interim report to be submitted to Parliament tomorrow.
The task force would be a forerunner to new legislation which would empower the government to blacklist or ban an INGO or an NGO whose activities jeopardize national security and interests, Select Committee chairman and JVP parliamentarian Vijitha Herath said.
He said the new act being drafted by the Social Service Ministry envisaged a five-member commission headed by a retried Supreme Court judge to monitor INGOs and NGOs and recommend action against them where necessary.
Mr. Herath said the Select Committee found several organizations had covertly assisted the LTTE by providing them with information, vehicles and others items in the guise of carrying out humanitarian activities in rebel-controlled areas.
He said that one organization which was clearing landmines in rebel-held areas had obtained necessary equipment for the exercise from the army but there was no proof that the mines were actually defused. “There are records on how many landmines were cleared in government-controlled area but there are no such records from the other side,” he said.
The Committee which sat for more than two years summoned several INGOs and NGOs, including ZOA, FORUT, Save the Children, Transparency International (TI), and Bergof Institute, to gather information regarding their wok in the country.
The JVP MP added that there was an influx of many organizations following the 2004 tsunami and their activities had gone unmonitored. | 
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