Rajiva Wijesinha

“ Mutur was a tragedy, but it was a tragedy as much for the way in which seventeen people were sent to their deaths as for their killing. It is sad that, in the debate the incident has stirred up, there has been hardly any mention of the need to ensure that the relevant clauses of the UN Regulations are followed strictly, and of the fact that the care for the safety of local workers that is enjoined went by default. ”

“ The government must be judged on all these counts by those to whom it is accountable, the people who voted it in. Sadly the NGOs are not accountable, their funding is not transparent, their agendas remain devious and destructive. ”

“ They also seem to have been completely misled in claiming that,
‘The thirteen males and four females killed—all Tamil except for one Muslim—were residents of Trincomalee and visited Mutur daily to carry out their duties as Water and Sanitation Technicians and Hygiene Promotion Agents on behalf of civilians affected by the war and the tsunami. ”

“ Thus, the killing of six Sinhalese on April 1st 2007 is also suggested to have been the responsibility of the government, by pointing out how near the site of the killing was to an STF camp and quoting a news report that said STF troopers were responsible. ”