01-06-2005, 06:22 PM
<span style='font-size:23pt;line-height:100%'>தமிழர் பகுதிகளுக்கு உரிய முறையில் சுனாமி நிவாரணப்பணிகளை செய்யவில்லை என்ற குற்றச்சாட்டை மறுத்து கனடாவுக்கான இலங்கை தூதர் கீதா டி சில்வா அறிக்கை ஒன்றை வெளியிட்டுள்ளார்.
இதோ அந்த அறிக்கை .......</span>
Canadian Sri Lankan Groups Criticized
Sri Lanka's High Commissioner to Canada, Geetha De Silva, insists that accusations of the misuse and seizure of humanitarian supplies in her tsunami-ravaged country are false. Mrs. De Silva said some Sri Lankan expatriate groups in Canada are trying to distort the reality of the recovery effort.
"This is really a very sad development," she told Embassy on Jan.4. "Right now, people in Sri Lanka are working to bring relief, and to see that some longer-term measures are addressed cooperatively. We're working together to get over this huge calamity that befell us." Her statements concur with many eyewitness reports of mutual assistance in the ethnically riven island nation, where Tamil separatists, whose movement is known as the LTTE, have waged a two-decade long civil war against the majority Sinhalese government. Mrs. De Silva reports that the natural disaster has actually prompted erstwhile enemies to assist one another. She says, "In fact, members of the LTTE are working with government officials is the north of Sri Lanka, in the LTTE-controlled areas themselves. The international NGOs are there, and are working with the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government officials. Things are moving well, and on the ground level, people are trying to face this disaster." With a note of exasperation in her voice, she says, "Then we find, in Montreal and Toronto, campaigns going on that say relief assistance is not going to the north and east of Sri Lanka. These statements are totally incorrect. I feel so sad that a pathetic, tragic situation like a disaster of this magnitude is used by certain individuals and groups for a very narrow objective. It doesn't look good when these kind of statements come out. People themselves condemn those statements. It's not only me the Sri Lankan community in Canada, whether they belong to a Tamil group, a Sinhalese group, or a Muslim group, don't like incorrect statements. If people want to help the country, that's not the type of thing they should do."
Canada is home to the largest Sri Lankan expatriate community in the world. In the early hours of Dec. 26, Geetha De Silva received the call that every diplomat dreads: a major natural disaster had struck back home. She recalls, "I was sleeping. It would have been about 3 o'clock in the morning when I got a call from Toronto, from a friend of mine, referring to this tragedy. Then I started trying to contact Colombo. I went on dialling Colombo phone numbers for the next couple of hours, until I managed to get through to somebody. By 6 o'clock in the morning, I had the staff assembled at the High Commission because I was expecting messages to come through from Colombo about the immediate action to be taken. We started work on Boxing Day, from then on. I was here almost all the time over the holidays. I was personally here that whole Sunday until late in the night. Then we set up a telephone line, and I had two officers manning the phone, answering calls, attending to inquiries. It has continued and it still continues."
Heavy rainfall in the days since the disaster has impeded relief efforts, but Mrs. De Silva has only praise for the work of international NGOs and civil society groups. " I would say that the emergency period is now more or less over, and we are looking toward medium-term assistance, things like putting up houses, but on the relief side we still need medication and supplies of drinking water. The Canadian DART that is going to Sri Lanka will be very helpful in these two areas: augmenting our medical structure, and attending to the facilitation of pure drinking water."
Mrs. De Silva is appreciative of the support her country has received in the wake of the tsunami. "Both the government and the people of Canada have been with us all the way," she affirms. "The government announcement of financial contributions, and then the planeload of material assistance-- the first consignment of material assistance sent from Canada went to Sri Lanka. The DART is going to Sri Lanka, and people have been trying to bring some kind of relief, by sending materials, or just talking to us and offering their services at the High Commission. That kind of show of support goes a long way, because we are all working around the clock."
As one of the most active heads of mission in the Ottawa diplomatic community, Geetha De Silva is looking forward to working more closely with her fellow representatives from other countries affected by the disaster. She says, "I'm going to start doing it, from tomorrow on. Until this time, my task was more focusing on immediate assistance, but now that we are more focused on the intermediate stage, I want to take it up with my colleagues in the diplomatic corps. I'm sure countries like Indonesia and Thailand, which are also badly affected, will want to take it up. I want to record my thanks to my colleagues, who have been calling me, and sharing our concern, offering their help and intense friendship."
As the ASEAN group of countries prepares to assemble in Jakarta on Jan.6 to address the long-term road to recovery in the region, Mrs. De Silva is optimistic. "We are looking at medium term arrangements and at the long term. The government of Sri Lanka is going to start working on the infrastructure rebuilding soon, starting in the second half of January. From that perspective, the meeting in Jakarta is going to be important, because we are hoping to receive assistance for our rebuilding efforts. That is a massive effort, particularly the roads, which have been washed away. Rail has been damaged; hospitals; schools, and houses we're hoping the ASEAN meeting will bring more relief."
இதோ அந்த அறிக்கை .......</span>
Canadian Sri Lankan Groups Criticized
Sri Lanka's High Commissioner to Canada, Geetha De Silva, insists that accusations of the misuse and seizure of humanitarian supplies in her tsunami-ravaged country are false. Mrs. De Silva said some Sri Lankan expatriate groups in Canada are trying to distort the reality of the recovery effort.
"This is really a very sad development," she told Embassy on Jan.4. "Right now, people in Sri Lanka are working to bring relief, and to see that some longer-term measures are addressed cooperatively. We're working together to get over this huge calamity that befell us." Her statements concur with many eyewitness reports of mutual assistance in the ethnically riven island nation, where Tamil separatists, whose movement is known as the LTTE, have waged a two-decade long civil war against the majority Sinhalese government. Mrs. De Silva reports that the natural disaster has actually prompted erstwhile enemies to assist one another. She says, "In fact, members of the LTTE are working with government officials is the north of Sri Lanka, in the LTTE-controlled areas themselves. The international NGOs are there, and are working with the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government officials. Things are moving well, and on the ground level, people are trying to face this disaster." With a note of exasperation in her voice, she says, "Then we find, in Montreal and Toronto, campaigns going on that say relief assistance is not going to the north and east of Sri Lanka. These statements are totally incorrect. I feel so sad that a pathetic, tragic situation like a disaster of this magnitude is used by certain individuals and groups for a very narrow objective. It doesn't look good when these kind of statements come out. People themselves condemn those statements. It's not only me the Sri Lankan community in Canada, whether they belong to a Tamil group, a Sinhalese group, or a Muslim group, don't like incorrect statements. If people want to help the country, that's not the type of thing they should do."
Canada is home to the largest Sri Lankan expatriate community in the world. In the early hours of Dec. 26, Geetha De Silva received the call that every diplomat dreads: a major natural disaster had struck back home. She recalls, "I was sleeping. It would have been about 3 o'clock in the morning when I got a call from Toronto, from a friend of mine, referring to this tragedy. Then I started trying to contact Colombo. I went on dialling Colombo phone numbers for the next couple of hours, until I managed to get through to somebody. By 6 o'clock in the morning, I had the staff assembled at the High Commission because I was expecting messages to come through from Colombo about the immediate action to be taken. We started work on Boxing Day, from then on. I was here almost all the time over the holidays. I was personally here that whole Sunday until late in the night. Then we set up a telephone line, and I had two officers manning the phone, answering calls, attending to inquiries. It has continued and it still continues."
Heavy rainfall in the days since the disaster has impeded relief efforts, but Mrs. De Silva has only praise for the work of international NGOs and civil society groups. " I would say that the emergency period is now more or less over, and we are looking toward medium-term assistance, things like putting up houses, but on the relief side we still need medication and supplies of drinking water. The Canadian DART that is going to Sri Lanka will be very helpful in these two areas: augmenting our medical structure, and attending to the facilitation of pure drinking water."
Mrs. De Silva is appreciative of the support her country has received in the wake of the tsunami. "Both the government and the people of Canada have been with us all the way," she affirms. "The government announcement of financial contributions, and then the planeload of material assistance-- the first consignment of material assistance sent from Canada went to Sri Lanka. The DART is going to Sri Lanka, and people have been trying to bring some kind of relief, by sending materials, or just talking to us and offering their services at the High Commission. That kind of show of support goes a long way, because we are all working around the clock."
As one of the most active heads of mission in the Ottawa diplomatic community, Geetha De Silva is looking forward to working more closely with her fellow representatives from other countries affected by the disaster. She says, "I'm going to start doing it, from tomorrow on. Until this time, my task was more focusing on immediate assistance, but now that we are more focused on the intermediate stage, I want to take it up with my colleagues in the diplomatic corps. I'm sure countries like Indonesia and Thailand, which are also badly affected, will want to take it up. I want to record my thanks to my colleagues, who have been calling me, and sharing our concern, offering their help and intense friendship."
As the ASEAN group of countries prepares to assemble in Jakarta on Jan.6 to address the long-term road to recovery in the region, Mrs. De Silva is optimistic. "We are looking at medium term arrangements and at the long term. The government of Sri Lanka is going to start working on the infrastructure rebuilding soon, starting in the second half of January. From that perspective, the meeting in Jakarta is going to be important, because we are hoping to receive assistance for our rebuilding efforts. That is a massive effort, particularly the roads, which have been washed away. Rail has been damaged; hospitals; schools, and houses we're hoping the ASEAN meeting will bring more relief."
<span style='font-size:20pt;line-height:100%'>Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.</span>