LTTE requests Jaffna Tamils not to leave Batticaloa, Amparai

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 March 2004, 16:29 GMT]
The political secretariat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Wednesday issued a statement appealing to the people who have been living in the districts of Batticaloa and Amparai for generations not to leave their habitats succumbing to the threats and the pressure directly issued by the Karuna group or in the name of any other organizations.
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Tigers condemn TNA candidate’s killing

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 March 2004, 07:27 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers Tuesday said they strongly condemn the killing of Mr. Rajan Sathiyamoorthy, Tamil National Alliance candidate for Batticaloa. “The people of Batticaloa should not to be perturbed by such incidents of violence in the district that create fear. We call on them to vote for the TNA and show the world the national strength of the Tamil people”, the LTTE said in statement issued in Tamil from their political headquarters in Kilinochchi Tuesday. Mr. Sathiyamoorthy was shot dead by unidentified gunmen at his residence Tuesday morning.


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Major political parties to hold final election rallies Tuesday

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 March 2004, 21:28 GMT]
The final election rallies of major political parties are to be held Tuesday evening in various parts of the country bringing the one and a half months old bitter election campaign to an end two days before the April 2nd poll, political sources said.
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Shadow Internet edition of Tamil Alai launched

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 March 2004, 15:38 GMT]
A shadow edition of Tamil Alai, a newspaper controlled by the renegade Karuna group in Kokkadichcholai in Batticaloa, appeared on the internet on Monday with the name “Thamil Alai,” competing with the Karuna group’s internet edition and signaling growing disenchantment in the East with the renegade group, sources said.
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Sri Lanka election enters final week amid fear of violence

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 March 2004, 12:29 GMT]
As independent poll monitors fear of an escalation in violence in the final week of campaigning for April 2 parliament elections, Police Election Secretariat reported Saturday that it has received 1113 complaints since the day of accepting nominations started on February 17 till Saturday morning 6 a.m.


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6151 NorthEast children suffer without psychiatric help

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 March 2004, 11:25 GMT]
6151 children in NorthEast are psychologically affected due to war induced trauma and remain without adequate help, said planning commissioner for Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO), Mr.Malaravan in a press briefing in Vavuniya Thursday morning. Lack of funds has denied us from taking forward the medical plans designed to help these children, Malaravan further said.
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LTTE explains renegade’s revolt to Eastern cadres

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 March 2004, 17:33 GMT]
In a statement issued Thursday, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam has explained to its cadres and divisional heads in the Batticaloa-Amparai district about the ‘offenses’ of Mr. Vinayagomoorthy Muraleetharan, also known as Karuna, who was the LTTE’s commander for the district.
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Trincomalee farmers demand drought relief

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 March 2004, 00:37 GMT]
More than one hundred and fifty farmers from Sambaltivu, Varothia Nagar, Sarathapuram, Kanniya, Aandankulam and Kappalthurai in the Trincomalee district Wednesday picketed in front of the office of the Trincomalee town and gravets Divisional Secretariat demanding that they should be paid drought relief similar to those given to farmers in the districts of Anuradhapura, Amparai, and Polonaruwa, civil society sources in Trincomalee said.
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Kaluwanchikudy residents condemn Karuna group

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 March 2004, 14:24 GMT]
The people of Kaluthavalai-Kaluwanchikudy in the Batticaloa district have shredded the leaflets issued by the Karuna group, and the Tamil Alai newspaper controlled by the group in Kokkadicholai, condemning the group for warning the people of Batticaloa-Amparai against having any contacts with the Tamil national leadership based in the Vanni, sources in Battticaloa said.
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TNA supporters injured in Digamadulla

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 March 2004, 12:45 GMT]
Four supporters of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) candidates, A. ChandraNehru and K.Pathmanathan who are competing in Digamadulla (Amparai) district, were injured in an altercation Saturday night around 11pm near Thambilulvil Kalaimahal Vidiyalayam, 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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"Historic obligation to show force of Unity" - Raviraj

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 March 2004, 00:12 GMT]
"Several public civil society organizations have joined us in carrying out door-to-door campaigns. We are telling Jaffna voters that a historical burden is placed on the Tamil society to demonstrate a force of unity in the forthcoming elections," said Mr.Nadarajah Raviraj, former Jaffna district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian, speaking to the Canadian Tamil Radio (CTR) Saturday.
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Tamil unity is vital for struggle to succeed - Sivajilingam

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 March 2004, 00:11 GMT]
"Tamil people are convinced and firm in their belief that only Tamil unity will propel us to succeed in our struggle. We can see their anguish and despair whenever they sense appearance of divisive tendencies within the Tamil community. We can be certain that Tamil people will reject all elements that can endanger Tamil unity," said Mr.Sivajilingam, a Tamil National Alliance (TNA) candidate in Jaffna, during a radio interview with International Broadcasting Corporation (IBC), Thursday.
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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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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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Karikalan addresses Jaffna university meeting

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 March 2004, 12:54 GMT]
“Karuna could not have acted traitorously without external backing. He has been bought over by an external power that is intent on destroying our liberation struggle and our leadership. People in the Batticaloa Amparai district know this now. He was instigated by the external power to betray his own people”, said Mr. Sivagnanam Karikalan, a senior leader of the Liberation Tigers from the east, addressing a packed meeting at the University of Jaffna Monday. Mr. E. Kousalyan, the head of the LTTE’s political division for the Batticaloa Amparai district also spoke at the meeting.
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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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Vavuniya protests against Eastern campus disruptive elements

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 March 2004, 15:04 GMT]
Academic staff, students and non-academic staff of the Vavuniya campus of the Jaffna University Friday conducted a black band campaign opposing the elements responsible for the disruption academic session East University and the disunity of Tamils in the east, sources 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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