No govt. order to close ICRC office – Hulugalla

The Director General of the Media Centre for National Security Lakshman Hulugalla speaking to Ada Derana said that the government has not ordered the International Red Cross to close its offices in Jaffna. He said this in reply to the ICRC claiming that the govt. had ordered them to scale down their operations.

Hulugalla further added that though the government has not issued such an order it was the prerogative of the NGO to identify that the reason they were stationed in the North is no more there. Hence without the war the need for them to be in the North should be calculated by them, he said.

Hulugalle also stated that after the war certain NGOs attempted to further their own agendas and the government had to restrict that.

Earlier the ICRC had said that Sri Lankan govt asked the Red Cross to scale down their presence and operation in former conflict areas of Jaffna and Vayunia without giving any reason.

The International Committee of the Red Cross vacated their offices in Eastern province last year following a similar request by the government, AFP reports.

“We have been asked to close the offices in Jaffna and Vavuniya and requested to operate from the head office in Colombo,” Sarasi Wijeratne, spokesperson for the ICRC told AFP.