He flew too close to the sun

Why Prabhakaran became so concerned about SAARC all of a sudden and declared a unilateral ceasefire must now be clear to one and all, given the damage the LTTE has suffered during the past few days. That he could have avoided that, had the government agreed to his truce, is clear.

In the past, he had managed to lure governments into truce traps and make them fight war according to his timetable. When he wanted war, he waged it and when he wanted time to regroup and rearm, he sued for peace. Thus, the conflict came to be punctuated by ceasefires at almost regular intervals, as we argued the other day.

By 2006, Prabhakaran had taken delivery of nearly a dozen shiploads of arms under the cover of a ceasefire, according to his erstwhile commander Karuna. Confident that he had enough firepower and cadres, a ceasefire-weary Prabhakaran threw down the gauntlet at Mavil Aru.

Prabhakaran may have expected the government to stop at fighting for Mavil Aru, as had been the case earlier on, so that he could drive the army away. But, that move proved to be a huge military miscalculation on his part. He let the genie out of the bottle.

Today, the LTTE is doing exactly what the army did in 1999 and 2000 in the North-running for dear life. In 1999, a series of LTTE offensives launched with the help of newly acquired small MBRLs, among other things, were so intense that the army vacated places like Oddusudan, Nedunkerni etc. in no time. Camps were crumbling like a pack of cards and the PA government did not know how to put the brakes on the LTTE's military onslaught.

The biggest debacle came in 2000, when the army lost its sprawling military complex at Elephant Pass with its big guns. The march of the LTTE had all the trappings of a cakewalk. Prabhakaran's boys and girls reached the outskirts of Jaffna, where the army was trapped. The government did frantic shopping for arms. MBRLs were rushed from Pakistan posthaste and the Tigers stopped in their tracks.

Read more,
http://www.island.lk/2008/07/26/editorial.html

TMVP accepts Karuna as Leader

Following a crucial politburo meeting and amidst conflicting reports regarding a leadership struggle the TMVP yesterday re-affirmed that Karuna Amman was their leader and present Chief Minister of East Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan was its deputy leader.

TMVP spokesman Azath Moulana told the Daily News yesterday

that the recent media frenzy about a rift within the party since the arrival of Karuna Amman was without basis and the story was the result of an LTTE attempt to create a wrong impression among the public.

TMVP leader Karuna Amman who was deported by British authorities following a short jail term for violating immigration regulations in UK returned to the island recently.

Moulana added that there was no dispute regarding the Chief Minister’s position in the East and the present Chief Minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan would continue to hold the post until the end of his term.

He said during Saturday’s meeting where all 13 members took part the politburo had discussed at length the current political trends and the TMVP’s future plans.

Reads more,
http://www.dailynews.lk/2008/07/14/sec02.asp

It will take time to defeat LTTE: Karuna

Karuna Amman, leader of the LTTE's breakaway faction, has said the Tiger group headed by V Prabhakaran is "very weak" at present but it would not be possible to defeat it soon.

"The LTTE are now only maintaining a defence line. They can't launch any offensive. They are very weak now," Karuna said.

He, however added that it would take time for the Sri Lankan army to defeat the rebel outfit.

"It will not happen in the next few months. We have to work together to win this war," the former deputy to LTTE supremo Prabhakaran told the Sinhala language wing of BBC.

Amman, whose real name is Vinayamurthi Muralitharan, arrived in Sri Lanka earlier this week after he was deported from UK, where he served a prison sentence for immigration offences.

Karuna was sentenced to nine-month imprisonment in January after being convicted of identity fraud.

Karuna, who broke away from the LTTE in 2004, was arrested here in November last year for travelling on a diplomatic passport under a false name.

Sri Lanka government has repeatedly denied any assistance to him to leave the Island country for Britain.

On his arrival to Sri Lanka, Karuna appealed to all communities -- Sinhala, Muslim and Tamil, to help the government in defeating the LTTE, which he described as a 'brutal terrorist group'.

Read more,
http://www.thehindu.com/holnus/001200807051522.htm

Karuna returns as LTTE eyes the East

LTTE renegade Commander Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan alias Karuna Amman returned to Sri Lanka this evening from London. His return was preceded by newspaper reports of the former LTTE 'Colonel' threatening to allegedly return to the ranks of the LTTE.

In Karuna's absence, Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan alias Kubeiran became the Chief Minister of the Eastern Province, a post he said he would cede to his superior, Karuna upon his return. It will be interesting to see whether this pledge is actually carried through.

Informed sources told this site that Karuna's return has come at a time when LTTE's current 'Special Commander' to the East, Keerthi and his band of Jeyanthan Brigade cadres are planning to create havoc in the Eastern Province.

The Karuna group, which broke into two groups, became one after Karuna's arrest and detention. After Pillayan became Chief Minister, it became virtually impossible for TMVP cadres to engage in open combat with the growing LTTE units in the East.

Read more,
http://defencewire.blogspot.com/2008/07/karuna-returns-as-ltte-eyes-east.html

“LTTE will have no option but to negotiate”

Sarath Amunugama, Sri Lankan Minister for Enterprise Development and Investment Promotion, says the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, whose strength in the Eastern province now stands reduced, will have to hold negotiations with the government very soon.

On the lines of the provincial elections to the Eastern province held in May, polls would be conducted for the north if and when the province comes under the control of the government security forces. He was speaking to senior journalists at The-Hindu in Chennai on Wednesday. Excerpts.
Dr. Amunugama’s opening remarks:

We are now reaching a critical phase in the relationship between the government and the LTTE. Now, there has been the provincial council election in the east and Mr. Pillayan who was the assistant of Karuna has been made the Chief Minister. Pillayan [Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan] started as a child soldier, graduated through the LTTE. But when there was this conflict with the security forces, Karuna’s group joined hands with us.

The LTTE’s strength in the Eastern province has been largely reduced. Initially we had the local bodies election — elections of Batticaloa and one of the smaller villages. Both were won by Mr. Pillayan. Subsequently, there was the Eastern provincial election. The government and Mr. Pillayan [referring to the electoral pact between the Sri Lankan Freedom Party and Mr. Pillayan’s Thamil Makkal Viduthalai Puligal] won that election.

Now he is the Chief Minister. He is getting on famously with other Chief Ministers. Recently he has been appointed chairman of the Chief Ministers’ Council. That has led to a lot of consequences.

Read more,
http://www.thehindu.com/2008/06/21/stories/2008062154991100.htm

Britain moves to deport Karuna

Britain has made its first concrete steps to deport the breakaway LTTE ‘eastern commander’ Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan, better known as ‘Colonel Karuna’ who arrived in London last September on a Sri Lankan diplomatic passport.

The British authorities have sent deportation papers to the Sri Lanka High Commission in London asking for a travel document to expedite his deportation, highly placed sources told The Sunday Times.

The Sri Lanka High Commission, however, denied any knowledge of the move by British authorities urging a travel document for Karuna who was serving a nine month prison sentence which was prematurely ended early last month when he was moved to an immigration detention centre.

“I don’t know. I have not heard anything,” a High Commission diplomatic officer said. But The Sunday Times is aware that the British authorities, wanting to wash their hands off Karuna who has proved to be a serious embarrassment to Britain because it had issued the visa for Karuna to come to London on the basis of a Third Party Note (TNP) purportedly issued by the Foreign Ministry in Colombo that accompanied the Sri Lankan diplomatic passport.

Read more,
http://www.sundaytimes.lk/080601/News/news0024.html

“Col” Karuna may face deportation

Rebel LTTE leader “Col” Karuna Amman, who was serving a jail sentence here after being found guilty of travelling to the U.K. on an allegedly forged Sri Lankan passport, was on Friday released and transferred to an immigration detention centre pending a decision on whether he should be deported back to Sri Lanka.

Sri Lankan High Commission sources said they had not received any request to issue travel documents that would enable it to deport ``Col” Karuna. Human rights groups want him to be tried for war crimes following allegations that his Tamileela Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) which he formed after breaking away from LTTE in 2004 was involved in murders, torture and abductions.

The BBC quoted the Crown Prosecution Service, responsible for prosecuting criminal cases in England and Wales, as saying that according to the police there was “insufficient evidence” to provide a realistic prospect of his conviction.

Extracted from,
http://www.hindu.com/2008/05/10/stories/2008051055031800.htm

Armed group releases underage recruits as vital election nears

The Karuna faction, the Tamil Tiger breakaway group, which has been transforming itself from an armed military group into a political party, released 39 underage recruits in April 2008.

The group, officially known as the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pullikal (TMVP), released 28 children on 24 April after 11 were let go on 11 April.

The TMVP was formed by the former eastern military commander of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Vinayagamurthi Muralitharan, alias Karuna, after he broke away from the Tigers in April 2004. It now controls all nine local governing divisions in its native Batticaloa District in eastern Sri Lanka following a clean sweep in elections on 10 March, and is contesting the Eastern Provincial Council election on 10 May as a coalition partner of the ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance.

The TMVP is now led by Karuna’s chief lieutenant Sivasuntharai Chandrakanthan, alias Pillayan, the party’s candidate for the chief minister of the province, who has taken pains to rehabilitate the party's image.

Read more,
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=78120

KARUNA SENT FROM A JAIL TO AN IMMIGRATION DETENTION CENTER

Karuna Amman alias Vinayagamurthy Muralitharan , the former leader of the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) has been released from a British jail and detained in an immigration centre, May 8.

British Home Ministry source said, “ He is detained under immigration powers of the government.”
It is customary for the British authorities to request the Sri Lanka High Commission in London to issue temporary travel documents for him to be deported to Sri Lanka. Those travel documents are different from a passports and a limited to a piece of paper carrying the photograph of the traveller. Sri Lanka High Commission sources in London said so far they have not received a request for the issuance of such a document from the British Home Office.

He fled to Britain, where his wife Vidhyawathie and her three children are living in London and got arrested, November 2 2007 for travelling with a forged diplomatic passport. He was later convicted on the offence and spent time in the jail.

Political analysts say the breakaway of Colonel Karuna, the man who was in charge of the Eastern Province under the LTTE was the beginning of the end of the Tamil terrorist outfit. After his departure the LTTE lost the sprawling Eastern Province to Sri Lanka government security forces. Karuna’s departure is believed to have supplied a pot of gold in intelligence to the Sri Lankan forces to drive away the Tamil Tigers from the province.

Read more,
http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items08/090508-1.html

'Prabhakaran not keen on peaceful solution to Lanka strife'

LTTE breakaway faction Tamil Makkal Vidhuthalai Pullikal has accused Tamil Tiger chief Velupillai Prabhakaran of not being keen on a peaceful solution to the 25-year-old ethnic strife in Sri Lanka.

"Prabhakaran only believes in an armed solution to the Tamil problem in Sri Lanka and is not interested in any peaceful means to resolve the crisis," said Pillayan, the TMVP leader and a leading contender for the Chief Ministers post in Eastern Provincial council where elections are to be held next month.

The TMVP split from LTTE towards the end of 2004 following differences between Prabhakaran and his senior colleague Vinayagamoorthi Muralitharan, better known as Colonel Karuna.

Pillayan alleged in an interview on Thursday that Prabhakaran would rather rule a small portion of Sri Lanka on his own terms rather than coming forward for ending the clashes, which had left about 70,000 people dead in the island nation.

Read more,
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/

Showcasing a success

ON the evening of March 11, heads of foreign missions based in Colombo received an invitation from the Foreign Ministry to gather at the office of Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama the following day at 11 a.m. for a briefing on the just-concluded local body elections in Batticaloa district. Similarly, members of the local and international press corps were called to his office for another briefing on the elections.

The invites raised several eyebrows. What has the Foreign Ministry got to do with the conduct of local body elections in just one of three eastern districts?

For the Mahinda Rajapaksa government and its Foreign Ministry, the Batticaloa elections constituted an extraordinary feat for more than one reason and deserved to be promoted as such.

The logic and objective of showcasing the Batticaloa elections to the international community is three-fold. First, the government succeeded in conducting the elections without any untoward incident in an area, parts of which were wrested from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) less than a year ago. Secondly, the government can take credit for bringing a section of the LTTE, the breakaway faction led by Vigyanamurthy Muralitharan alias ‘Col’ Karuna, now led by Pillian, into the political mainstream.

Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, it is a reflection of the commitment of the government to usher in democracy in the erstwhile LTTE-dominated areas and provide an idea of the shape of things to come in the East and eventually in the North, parts of which continue to be under the control of the Tigers.

Read the full article here,
http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/stories/20080411250704600.htm

Lankan Defence Secy denies helping Karuna

Sri Lankan Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse has rejected accusations that he helped renegade LTTE leader V Muralitharan, better known as Colonel Karuna, to secure a diplomatic passport through which he entered Britain.

His remarks came a day after BBC reported Karuna's allegations made in a British court that Rajapakse, younger brother of President Mahinda Rajapakse, "arranged everything" for him to travel to the UK using a diplomatic passport.

Karuna was sentenced to nine months in prison by the Isleworth Crown Court in West London on Friday for traveling on a forged passport to Britain

"I haven't helped him (Karuna). It is wrong for the British judiciary to make public these claims without verification," Gotabhaya Rajapakse told 'Lakbimanews'.

Reading out Karuna's statement in the open court, the prosecution had charged that President's Rajapakse's brother was known to him since he defected from the LTTE.

Read more,
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/000200801271401.htm

'Karuna' given 9 month sentence in UK

Vinayagamoorthi Muralitharan, better known as Colonel Karuna, was sentenced Friday morning (25) at Isleworth Crown Court in West London. Muralitharan, who broke away from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2004, taking with him what has been described as the best fighters in the terrorist outfit, was arrested recently in London on charges of holding false identity documents.

The British Foreign Office said in December that it had told the Sri Lankan government of its "concern" at how Col Karuna had acquired a diplomatic passport under a false name.

Extracted from,
http://www.news.lk/index.php?option=com_content&

LTTE breakaway chief may be deported to Sri Lanka

LTTE's breakaway faction leader Vinayagamurthi Muralitharan, better known as Karuna, is likely to be deported to Sri Lanka following his arrest in London for allegedly travelling on a forged passport.

"Karuna, who was booked by the London police for travelling under a forged passport could be deported to Sri Lanka," Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry sources said on Saturday.

Ahead of Karuna's arrest on Friday, uncertainty about his whereabouts persisted for long, though it was widely believed that he was in the UK.

Read more,
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/LTTE_breaka

Karuna arrested in London

Karuna Amman has been arrested in the UK say reports. British Police has taken Karuna Amman into custody and the reason for his arrest is still not known.

As conflicts in Karuna faction escalated, Karuna fled to the UK and when he returned to the island Pilleyan had taken over the leadership. In internal conflicts that erupted several leaders from both factions were killed.

Under this circumstance Karuna fled to the UK again where he was arrested.

Extracted from,
http://www.lankatruth.com/full_story/2007/Nov/02/20071102_06.htm

LTTE dissident Karuna ‘leaves’ Lanka

The controversial LTTE dissident, Colonel Karuna, is believed to have left Sri Lanka recently, following trenchant international criticism of the activities of his group, the Tamileela Makkal Viduthalai Puligal (TMVP), in the eastern Tamil-speaking district of Batticaloa.

Media reports said on Wednesday that Karuna had left for Britain. But independent sources could only confirm that he had left the country temporarily.

The Scandinavian-staffed Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission and the New York-based Human Rights Watch had both criticised the TMVP for forcibly recruiting children and extorting money from the people in Batticaloa.

Read more,
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=93c6