Massive Pongu Thamil Convergence of European Tamils

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 April 2004, 12:39 GMT]
The Pongu Thamil event started at 14:40 European time on Monday at the Central Railway station in Geneva, Switzerland, with a speech by Mr. V. Rudrakumaran, the legal advisor of the Liberation Tigers, and the number of participants exceeded the organizers' expectations, sources said.
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Thampalakamam residents march in support of TNA

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 March 2004, 01:11 GMT]
Hundreds of villagers including women and children participated in a four km procession in Thampalakamam, Sunday afternoon carrying photographs of the LTTE national leader Mr.Velupillai Pirapaharan and shouting slogans in support of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) candidates, sources said.
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Amparai woman candidate uses Bus as campaign vehicle

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 March 2004, 12:20 GMT]
Ms.Sabapathy Yogambikai who is standing for elections in Batticaloa-Amparai district in Tamil National Alliance (TNA) ticket is using public transport as her campaign vehicle to minize cost and to identify with the working layers of the district residents, media reports from Amparai said.
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Annai Poopathy anniversary celebrated in NorthEast

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 March 2004, 13:41 GMT]
Sixteenth year anniversary of Annai Poopathy memorial day was celebrated across the Northeast with special events being organized in Navalady, Batticaloa, sources said. Joseph Pararajasingham, Senior Vice President of the Tamil United Liberation Front, and other Tamil National Alliance candidates participated in the Batticaloa event, according to sources. Voice of Tigers (VoT) in its evening broadcast reported that major celebrations took place in Udayarkattu, Moonkilattu heroes cemetary for Batticaloa-Amparai war heroes.
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Karuna’s revolt is 'temporary aberration' - Balasingham

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 March 2004, 08:43 GMT]
The rebellion by the LTTE’s former Batticaloa-Amparai commander is “not a major politico-military crisis in the LTTE,” the movement’s theoretician and chief negotiator, Mr. Anton Balasingham, said this week in his first public comment on the estrangement between Mr. V. Muraleetharan (Karuna) and the LTTE leadership. In a wide-ranging interview with the London based Tamil Guardian newspaper, Mr. Balasingham said “Karuna’s dissent would not seriously undermine the peace process or the Tamil national struggle.”
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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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Karuna embezzled funds, feared disciplinary action before split - Karikalan

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 March 2004, 00:05 GMT]
Mr.Sivagnanam Karikalan, a senior leader of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam from the East who was close to the renegade former Eastern commander of the LTTE, Mr. Karuna, in an interview with the Australian Tamil Broadcasting Corporation (ATBC) Friday disclosed for the first time that the Batticaloa crisis was precipitated when LTTE leadership summoned Karuna to Vanni after discovering financial irregularities and receiving allegations of questionable conduct. Fearing disciplinary action Karuna defied Vanni command and took unilateral action to split, Karikalan said.
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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.


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"We solidly support leader Pirapaharan"- Thilak tells Solheim

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 March 2004, 08:19 GMT]
"We are solidly supporting the leadership of Mr.V.Pirapaharan. We are against dividing Tamils by north and east", Mr.S.Thilak, Trincomalee district political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Friday categorically told Norwegian special peace envoy Mr. Erik Solheim during a discussion held Friday morning at the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission office in Trincomalee town.
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Rupavahini blamed for falsifying report

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 March 2004, 11:24 GMT]
Amparai district former Tamil National Alliance (TNA)parliamentarian Mr. A.Chandra Nehru Thursday issued a statement denying a report carried by State controlled Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC) saying that he participated in a demonstration burning the effigy of LTTE leader Mr.Pirapaharan, sources in Amparai said.


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Karuna feared expulsion, avoided direct contact - Ramesh

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 March 2004, 21:04 GMT]
In an interview from Vanni to the UK-based International Broadcasting Corporation (IBC) Radio, Col.Ramesh, the new Special Commander of the Liberation Tigers for Batticaloa-Ampara, said that Karuna took the unilateral decision to split on his own ignoring the advices of several senior commanders and administrateive heads.
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Karuna’s accusations are cover up for guilt and betrayal - Karikalan

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 March 2004, 19:58 GMT]
In a wide ranging interview from Vanni to the London, UK-based International Broadcasting Corporation (IBC) Radio, Mr. Karikalan, a senior leader of the Liberation Tigers and former head of the political division in Batticaloa-Ampara, said that Karuna, the renegade former LTTE commander from Batticaloa-Ampara, was spreading false stories to the international media to justify his betrayal and to prevent the international Tamil community from calling Mr. Karuna a “traitor.”
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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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LTTE urges support for TNA in Pt.Pedro election rally

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 March 2004, 01:16 GMT]
"The national leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Mr.V.Pirapaharan fully supports the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in the forthcoming general elections. We appeal to Tamil voters to vote for the TNA for its policy. We will not ask voters to cast their votes for particular individual candidates in the TNA lists," said the LTTE senior activist Mr.Arasanna addressing the first TNA election rally held in Point Pedro.


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Peace Talks, CFA will not be affected - Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 March 2004, 11:19 GMT]
Talking to journalists during the press conference at the Peace Secretariat Saturday, LTTE Head of Political Wing, S.P.Thamilchelvan said that LTTE will maintain its firm committment to the peace talks and the Ceasefire Agreement and that LTTE leader Pirapaharan is always ready to provide amnesty to those who realize their mistakes.
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"Let us function directly under your leadership"-Karuna

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 March 2004, 03:48 GMT]
"Please let us function independently under your direct leadership. We are not leaving you. We are not opposed to you. I do not want to commit the historical mistake of not pointing out to you the aspirations of our people, disregarding their feelings and those of our fighters here. If you love the people here and if you trust the fighters here please let us function independently and directly under your leadership," said Col. Karuna, senior commander of the Liberation Tigers in a letter addressed to the leader of the LTTE, Mr. Velupillai Pirapaharan Friday.
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Batticaloa crisis temporary - Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 March 2004, 09:56 GMT]
Head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) Major General (retd.) Trond Furuhovde and his deputy Hagrup Haughland met Head of the LTTE Political Wing, S.P.Thamilchelvan in Kilinochchi Thursday morning, LTTE peace secretariat website said. LTTE Batticaloa district Head of the Political Wing, Kousalyan, and Director of LTTE Peace Secretariat Puleedevan also participated in the discussions.
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Batticaloa LTTE reiterates stand

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 March 2004, 09:32 GMT]
"We are functioning with commitment to our cause under the command of our national leader Veluppillai Pirapaharan and the guidance of commander Col. Karuna" a senior official of the LTTE in Batticaloa was quoted as saying in Thursday's edition of the Thamil Alai, a regional daily published from Kokkaddicholai, a large village controlled by the Tigers 15 kilometres southwest of Batticaloa town.
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Jaffna Muslims express solidarity with LTTE

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 February 2004, 15:48 GMT]
"We accept the leader of Libertion Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Pirapaharan, as our leader. We are not in a position to accept the leadership of Rauf Hakeem from the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress," said Al Aleem Marleen, President of the Jaffna Muslims Peace Consortium speaking to reporters in Jaffna.
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LTTE's Special Motorbike Brigade completes training

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 February 2004, 16:39 GMT]
In an undisclosed location in Vanni, Pirapaharan, leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, participated in the passing out ceremony of a crack Motorbike brigade which completed its special training today, sources in Vanni said.
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