Batticaloa fast urges unity of Tamil military power

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 March 2004, 14:00 GMT]
A group of cadres working with Mr. Vinayagamoorthy Muraleetharan (Karuna) organised a token fast Friday urging the LTTE to let the renegade commander work under the leadership of Mr. Velupillai Pirapaharan. A memorandum on the objective of the token fast, which was handed out in Tamil and English, urges the LTTE leadership to withdraw the charge that Mr. Muraleetharan is a traitor and emphasises that the armed forces of the Liberation Tigers should work in unity towards achieving the independent state of Thamil Eelam.

In a speech reflecting growing public concern in the Batticaloa-Amparai region over the consequences of the renegade LTTE commander’s stand, Ms. Sabapathy Yogambikai, a candidate for the Tamil National Alliance in the Amparai District, addressing the token fast said: “We gave our children to liberate our land and our people. We did not give our children to the liberation movement to promote contradictions. No one has the right to undermine the liberation struggle, forgetting the purpose for which we sent our children to the Liberation movement”.

Local civil society leaders and Tamil National Alliance candidates who briefly addressed the token fast emphasised the Tamil liberation movement should resolve the problem peacefully under the leadership of Mr. Velupillai Pirapaharan.