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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Demining assistance, Japan's high priority - Embassy official

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 March 2004, 18:18 GMT]
"The government of Japan is closely observing the emergency humanitarian needs of the people in the northeast in Sri Lanka and is supporting the efforts of the Government of Sri Lanka in demining operations," said Mr.H.Onishi, First Secretary Japan Embassy in Colombo, Tuesday, while addressing at the inauguration ceremony of The Japan Center for Conflict Programme (JCCP) in Vavuniya.


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Empower TNA to decide next government, Sampanthan tells voters

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 March 2004, 11:36 GMT]
"Tamils are in the verge of achieving their legitimate rights after several years of freedom struggle through the military might of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Hence it is the duty of Tamils to strengthen the hands of LTTE by sending at least twenty-one Tamil National Alliance parliamentarians thus making the TNA as a force to decide the future government," said Mr.R.Sampanthan, TNA leader and the TNA lead candidate for Trincomalee district when addressing a series of election meetings in the LTTE held area villages in Muttur east and Eachilampathu division Sunday evening.


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Ensure franchise to Tamil voters, TNA tells Cushnahan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 March 2004, 11:21 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader Mr.R.Sampanthan has appealed to the European Parliament member Mr.John Walls Cushnahan to take immediate steps to ensure that voters in Liberation Tigers held areas in the northeast province to exercise their franchise freely and without any restriction in the polling stations located in no man zones in the forthcoming general election, sources said.
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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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TNA concludes election campaign in LTTE held Trinco villages

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 March 2004, 16:55 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) concluded its four-day first phase of campaign in the Liberation Tigers held Muttur east and Eachilampathu villages in Trincomalee district Monday. TNA candidates contesting the Trincomalee electoral district in the forthcoming general election led by their lead candidate and TULF Secretary General Mr.R.Sampanthan began their campaign Friday visiting several remote villages and addressed pocket meetings, sources said.


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"Denial of franchise will damage peace process"- TNA

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 March 2004, 14:46 GMT]
"Denial of franchise to Tamil voters residing in the Liberation Tigers held areas in the northeast province in the forthcoming general election will have serious impact on the current peace process," Mr.R.Sampanthan, leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and Secretary General of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) told the Norwegian special peace envoy Mr. Erik Solheim during a discussion with the latter at the Norwegian embassy Monday morning, sources said.
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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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UPFA silent on peace process, CFA - Wickremesinghe

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 March 2004, 11:38 GMT]
"Eventhough there is a voice in the south that is calling for the abrogation of the Ceasefire Agreement and to start war, we are determined to pursue the path of peace," said Sri Lanka's Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe speaking at an election meeting held in Vavuniya Urban Council grounds Saturday.


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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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TNA unveils new campaign strategy

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 March 2004, 17:29 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance candidates from Jaffna will canvass support for their colleagues contesting the April polls in the east while TNA candidates from the east will campaign in the north for the victory of the alliance, Mr. Mavai Senathirajah, the general secretary of the Federal Party, said Saturday.
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Refugee women seek asylum in LTTE office

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 March 2004, 14:40 GMT]
Twelve women from refugee camps India sought asylum at the political office of the Liberation Tigers in Vavuniya Saturday. The women said they had forcibly been kept in safe houses in Colombo by men who had promised to get them jobs abroad. People chased away a gang that tried to abduct the women when they arrived in Vavuniya by train on Saturday morning. The women alleged the gang had sexually harassed and intimidated them.
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Kumaratunge outlines UPFA policy to business leaders

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 March 2004, 02:21 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge expressed confidence that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) would enter into democratic political process under the future United Peoples' Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government when she met leaders of business communities including members of legal and medical profession at the Presidential House Friday evening, sources said.


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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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Solheim to meet Sampanthan Monday

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 March 2004, 15:38 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader and the Secretary General of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) Mr.R.Sampanthan will brief the Norwegian special peace envoy Mr. Erik Solheim on Monday morning in Colombo on the ground situation of the northeast province, TNA sources said.


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Pocket meetings, seminars dominate TNA Trinco campaign

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 March 2004, 15:26 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) candidates led by the lead candidate Mr.R.Sampanthan began addressing election seminars and pocket meetings in the areas held by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam since Friday, as TNA's campaign efforts swung into full gear, political sources in Trincomalee said.
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Election verdict should legitimize ISGA demand - Sampanthan

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 March 2004, 15:12 GMT]
The verdict of the Tamils in the forthcoming general election should legitimize the demand of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam for an Interim Self Governing Authority (ISGA) for the northeast province. All tamil speaking people must support the Tamil National Alliance to capture maximum number of parliamentary seats," said Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader, Mr.R.Sampanthan, addressing an election meeting in Division No 10 in the Trincomalee town held Thursday evening.
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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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