Sri Lanka Landslide: TGTE distressed that Tamil diaspora groups will not be allowed to offer assistance.

Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) express condolences to the grieving families. Supports call for week of mourning.

The Prime Minister of Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam, Mr. Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran, expressed TGTE’s final respects to those who perished in the landslide in the island of Sri Lanka and offered heartfelt condolences to the grieving families. Over 300 people have lost their lives as a result of a huge landslide at the Meeriyabedda Tea Plantation in the district of Badulla in Sri Lanka.

TGTE was deeply distressed that several Tamil diaspora groups will not be allowed to offer assistance. This was as a result of Sri Lankan Government’s decision to ban several Tamil diaspora entities in March this year. It is believed that this decision to ban was taken by the Sri Lankan Government as a result of an international investigation initiated by the UN.

“The Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) takes to heart the call made by the Leader of the Democratic People’s Front, Mr. Mano Ganesan, for the observation of a week of mourning beginning on Thursday, 30th of October, as a way of remembering the lives of Tamil brethren who lost their lives to the calamity. We call upon all Diaspora Tamils to observe the week of mourning and to engage in prayers in memory of the lives lost.”

Following is the full text of the message:

The news of the disaster that led to the homes of 66 families belonging to Meeriyabedda Tea Plantation being buried under a tragic landslide reached us yesterday. The delay in recovery efforts due to the inclement weather saddens us. The small relief that the children who were at school had been saved from the disaster is compounded by the fact that many of them have lost their parents and relatives to the landslide.

It is hard to fathom why nature chooses to be so harsh on the long suffering Tamil brethren in the hill country whose life circumstances are so dire. This sorrowful event also demonstrates the urgent need for uplifting of the living conditions of hill country Tamils in the island of Sri Lanka.

The Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam takes to heart the call made by the Leader of the Democratic People’s Front, Mr Mano Ganesan, for the observation of a week of mourning beginning on Thursday, 30th of October, as a way of remembering the lives of Tamil brethren who lost their lives to the calamity. We call upon all Diaspora Tamils to observe the week of mourning and to engage in prayers in memory of the lives lost.

The Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam expresses our unqualified support for rehabilitation efforts in rebuilding the lives of the people affected by this catastrophe. We are deeply distressed by our inability to directly engage in the rehabilitation efforts in view of our position as a banned entity by the Government of Sri Lanka. We therefore ask organizations involved in humanitarian work and engaged in many other forms of community work to render their full support for the rehabilitation tasks ahead of us in this regard.

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