Renegade LTTE Commander flees jungle base

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 April 2004, 10:42 GMT]
Renegade LTTE commander ‘Karuna,' Mr. Vinayagamoorthy Muraleetharan, has fled his jungle base north west of Batticaloa accompanied by a small number of his closest supporters and bodyguards, Sivagnanam Karikalan, a senior leader of the Liberation Tigers from the east, who is currently visiting Switzerland, told TamilNet. According to unconfirmed reports, Mr. Muraleetharan has sought refuge in a Sri Lankan military camp in the adjacent district of Polonnaruwa. Military sources in Colombo declined to confirm the reports.
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LTTE forces move into Batticaloa's hinterland

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 April 2004, 06:37 GMT]
Liberation Tigers moved into the entire areas south west of Batticaloa town Monday. Several military units of the LTTE, which moved from different directions, took control of Kokkadichcholai around Monday noon. Karuna Group's propaganda organ, Tamil Alai office and the Press were taken over by members of the LTTE's political division who also moved into the area. Meanwhile hundreds of male and female cadres from Renegade LTTE Commander Karuna's main base, Meenakam, began arriving in their villages from Monday morning.
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JHU rejects Peace Process, Norway Facilitation

[TamilNet, Sunday, 11 April 2004, 13:31 GMT]
"We totally reject the present peace process as we believe it will only lead to the division of this country. We also reject the facilitation of Norway because it is partial towards the LTTE," said Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) Propaganda Secretary Ven. Uduwe Dhammaloka Thera while outlining the basis of his party's position in backing the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government, in an interview that appeared in today's weekly Sunday Times in Colombo.


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All 20 TNA Parliamentarians issue joint statement

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 April 2004, 04:42 GMT]
"In view of the speculative reports in the media, all Members of Parliament elected from the North-Eastern region in the name of Ilankai Thamil Arasu Katchchi emphatically state that we are unequivocally and irrevocably committed to the political aspirations of the Tamil people for over the past fifty years for self rule in a unified north-eastern region, which has been the acknowledged as the area of historical habitation of the Tamil speaking people," said 20 Tamil National Alliance parliamentarians in a joint statement issued Wednesday night after two days of discussions held in Colombo.
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Election results, major political victory for freedom struggle- LTTE

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 April 2004, 00:17 GMT]
The Tamil people have delivered a clear message that the "concept of the Tamil Homeland, Tamil Nationalism and the right for Tamil self rule should be accepted as the basic aspirations of the Tamil people and that the Tamil national problem should be politically resolved on that basis, failing which the Tamil people will fight to establish the Tamil sovereignty in their homeland on the principle of self determination," said the Political division of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in an official communique released in the peace secretariat website.
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Commissioner declares no re-vote as candidates claim electoral fraud

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 April 2004, 13:54 GMT]
While there were voting irregularities observed in two districts in the South and speculation was rife that there will be revoting, the defeated V. Ananthasangaree, the controversial Leader of Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), whose Independent group in Jaffna district garnered less than 2% of the votes and the Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) which managed to get a single seat, claimed widespread voter fraud by the Liberation Tigers in Jaffna district, media reports said. But the Election Commissioner Sunday decided against a re-vote.


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TamilNet Batticaloa correspondent elected TNA MP

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 April 2004, 14:21 GMT]
Mr. Senathirajah Jeyanandamoorthy, TamilNet’s correspondent for Batticaloa has been elected as a Tamil National Alliance Member of Parliament for the eastern district, election officials said Saturday. He received 44457 personal preference votes. The Tamil National Alliance won a landslide victory in Batticaloa and got four of the district’s five seats.
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Thousands from Vanni vote in Omanthai, Uyilankulam, Madhu

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 April 2004, 07:50 GMT]
Thousands of enthusiastic voters from the Mullaithivu district and the northern parts of the Vavuniya district which are controlled by the Liberation Tigers swarmed to polling stations in Omanthai Friday morning to cast their ballots. More than thirty percent of the fifty two thousand voters in Mullaithivu had cast their votes by 10 a.m. according to the chief returning officer for the district, Ms. Imelda Sukumar. Omanthai, a dilapidated town surrounded by Sri Lankan military garrisons is eighteen kilometres north of Vavuniya town.
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Voters in LTTE-held Vanni arrive in Puliyankulam

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 April 2004, 17:33 GMT]
Twenty thousand voters in remote areas in the Mullaithivu district have been brought to the Liberation Tigers’ checkpoint in Puliyankulam until Thursday evening for voting in the general elections on Friday at the clustered polling stations in Omanthai, about 10 k.m. south of Puliyankulam, said Mr. S. Elilan, the political head of the LTTE in Vavuniya.
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Sampanthan meets EU envoys

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 March 2004, 12:45 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader Mr.R.Sampanthan Tuesday told the envoys of member countries of the European Union (EU) based in Colombo that Tamils of northeast would lose faith in the Sri Lanka's election process and its democracy if tens of thousands of voters residing in the Liberation Tigers controlled areas are not allowed to exercise their franchise, political sources in Colombo said.


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Karuna Group bans Tamil daily

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 March 2004, 07:10 GMT]
The Karuna Group, led by the renegade LTTE regional leader, Mr. V. Muraleetharan, stopped the distribution of a popular Tamil daily in the Batticaloa Amparai districts from Wednesday. Armed cadres from the Karuna Group had threatened manager of the Thinakkural paper's regional office in Batticaloa with death. The paper was not sold in Batticaloa Wednesday.
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Karuna Group eyes cabinet portfolio

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 March 2004, 06:28 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance candidates in Batticaloa who might be elected in the April polls to Sri Lanka’s Parliament should be ready to work with the government that comes to power in Colombo, according to instructions issued Monday by the Karuna Group to Tamil politicians in the troubled eastern district, sources said. One of the TNA MPs elected from Batticaloa would be given a cabinet portfolio, according to Mr. Rajan Sathiyamoorthy, a TNA candidate who is a confidante of Mr. V. Muraleetharan, the leader of the Karuna Group.
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Dissent within Karuna loyalists?

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 March 2004, 09:58 GMT]
The website run from Batticaloa under the direction of renegade commander, Mr. Vinayagamoorthy Muraleetharan (Karuna), which was disabled for several hours after posting a message that apologized to the viewers for carrying messages against LTTE leader V.Pirapaharan, has now become operational. TamilNet is unable to confirm whether it was the work of outside cracker.
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Jaffna university students to canvass for TNA

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 March 2004, 17:31 GMT]
The Jaffna University Students Union announced Saturday that it will campaign in support of the Tamil National Alliance. A students’ spokesman told TamilNet the Union decided to take the unprecedented step “to fight against the divisive forces that are threatening the Tamil people’s political future and well being today”.


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"Election is a referendum on ISGA" - Thilak

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 March 2004, 10:58 GMT]
Mr.S.Thilak, Trincomalee district political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said Wednesday that Tamils of the northeast province should consider the April 2 general election as a referendum on the Interim Self Governing Authority (ISGA) proposals and a democratic recognition for the liberation struggle, sources in Trincomalee said.


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Colonel Pathuman speaks to TamilNet

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 March 2004, 14:25 GMT]
"I am keeping fine," Colonel Pathuman, Trincomalee district military commander of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) told TamilNet Tuesday evening by telephone from Vanni. He appealed to Tamil people not to believe in rumours spread through State media. His comment followed the news report of the State run Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) that he had been killed in Vanni.
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Thilak slams SLBC over Pathuman story

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 March 2004, 09:53 GMT]
The news that LTTE Trincomalee district military commander Colonel Pathuman has been killed in Vanni is a canard to create panic and confusion among Tamil people by some interested parties, LTTE Trincomalee district political head Mr.S.Thilak told TamilNet Tuesday afternoon. The State run Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) in its noon news broadcast in all three media reported that Trincomalee LTTE military commander Colonel Pathuman had been killed in Vanni.
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Peace delegation from Batticaloa to resolve Karuna crisis

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 March 2004, 02:40 GMT]
A delegation of religious and civil society leaders of Batticaloa, led by Bishop Rt. Rev. Kingsley Swampillai and Vice Chancellor of the Eastern University, Dr. S. Raveendranath, will leave for Vanni Monday to hold discussions with the Liberation Tigers' leadership to peacefully handle the problem of renegade LTTE commander, Mr. Karuna, a senior LTTE official in Batticaloa told TamilNet Sunday night.
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Karuna’s supporters protest in Valaichenai

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 March 2004, 13:22 GMT]
Supporters of the renegade LTTE commander, Mr. Vinyagamoorthy Muralitharan (Karuna), Sunday held a protest in Valaichenai, 32 kilometres north of Batticaloa, amidst reports that more troops and military officers who were under his overall command were co-ordinating their operations in the east with Mr. T. Ramesh, the new commander for the Batticaloa-Amparai district. A senior LTTE military officer from the Batticaloa-Amparai district arrived in Kilinochchi Sunday evening to brief the Liberation Tigers’ high command about the latest developments in the eastern region, sources said.


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"Will handle the problem in Batticaloa with caution"- Ramesh

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 March 2004, 01:45 GMT]
"Our leader has given us strict instructions that no harm should befall our people and our fighters in the Batticaloa- Amparai district in dealing with Karuna’s problem. We have devised plans to do this very carefully and with great caution. We have already started to implement these plans. We intend to go back and begin work soon," Commander Ramesh, the LTTE’s military leader for the Batticaloa-Amparai district told TamilNet Sunday.
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