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KARUNA REJECTS LTTE EXPULSION AND BOTH ARE NOW POISED FOR DANGEROUS CLASH UPSETTING TNA ELECTION CAMPAIGN

Head of the Eastern faction of the Tamil Tiger rebels Vinayagamoorthi Muralitharan, also known as Karuna, right, stands with cadres at the Thoppigila Camp, the military camp of the rebels, in Batticaloa. (Photo: Julia Drapkin/AP)

By Walter Jayawardhana reporting from Los Angeles

March 07, 03.30 AM: Col. Karuna, the Eastern Military Commander of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) who was removed from his post by the LTTE Wanni leader Velupillai Prabhakaran rejected the statement and ridiculed it saying there was nothing to remove him since he removed himself and seceded from them before that announcement.

Sri Lanka military intelligence sources said the renegade rebels under Karuna have now moved to jungle hide outs like Thoppigala Tiger barracks showing ominous signs of an oncoming clash between forces loyal to Karuna and Prabhakaran. The renegade rebels deserted military garrisons in built up areas the same sources said.

After the expulsion and Karuna’s refusal to accept it, both parties are now poised for the most dangerous fratricidal war in the history of the Tamil movement in Sri Lanka, completely paralyzing the election campaign of the Tamil National Alliance, sponsored by the LTTE, analysts said.. Any crash of the TNA would also dash the hopes of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to form a government with their help, as expected, they added.

Clashes are expected to occur when the Wanni leadership would send about 20 of Prabhakaran approved LTTE officials to fill positions taken over by Karuna and his loyalists in the Batticaloa and Ampara Districts. It is not known when the parallel panel of officials are to proceed to the Batticaloa and Ampara Districts but it is believed the Wanni leadership has sought the assistance of the Sri Lanka Army to send them over there.

Col. Karuna (40) also known as Vinayagamurthi Muralidharan who is described as the brains behind the past military victories against Sri Lanka Army like the victorious counter attack against Jayasikuru and the occupation of the SL Army garrison at Elephant Pass by the Tigers has created the biggest crisis in the 19 year old war history of Velupillai Prabhakaran’s terrorist outfit , the LTTE.

In an special announcement read by LTTE political head, P Thamilselvan made in Kilinochchi, Prabhakaran announced that the rebelling leader against his military authority was stripped of his titles and the membership of the LTTE. Meanwhile Colombo newspapers, quoting Sri Lankan military intelligence said Prabhakaran had, in addition, ordered several assassins to be unleashed to kill Col. Karuna.

An important military leader of the movement, at the Kilinochchi press conference to which 78 press correspondents were invited for the sole purpose of announcing Karuna’s expulsion from the movement, Thamilselvan himself described the Eastern Province rebel leader as the man who functioned next to their Fascist leader , Velupillai Prabhakaran. Believed to be still holding the power of more than 6000 loyal troops under his power Karuna knew better than his Northern Province colleagues of the LTTE, the rugged terrains of the mostly jungle clad Eastern Province and was born in the same province at Kiran, near Batticaloa. The Eastern leader, got religion each time in carrying out orders of older Prabhakaran, and once believed to have massacred 600 Sinhalese and Muslim police officers who surrendered to him to fulfill his leader’s wish.

Showing the world the repercussions created by the break up of the factions of Wanni and the East in the Tamil political movement the Prabhakaran sponsored “Eelam law courts” established in the Ampara Batticaloa area were closed down and their judges and lawyers and the court officials fled to Wanni. The Eelam Police stations faced the same devastating results. Reliable sources said the political prisoners kept by the Prabhakaran regime under the most torturous conditions in dungeons and other jails had also escaped

The most obvious effects were seen in the Pararajasekeram led TNA election campaign with the TNA candidates mostly hiding themselves , sources in Batticaloa said.

Pro-Karuna troops were stopping vehicles at places like Vantharamulla, Chenkaladi, and Chittandi to find out whether pro-Prabhakaran elements were escaping to Wanni and prevent it.

The Thamil Alai newspaper published in Kokkadicholai announced pro Karuna news items and announced the appointment of Karikalan as the political head of the area. But it did not announce who appointed him as the new political head.

The newspaper described Ramesh, Prabha, Ram and Roshan who escaped to Wanni to join Prabhakaran as traitors who betrayed the people of the Eastern Province and had committed an unpardonable crime.

Describing the Tamil Coordinating Committee with the help of the armed forces were firmly in control of the administration of the area

But at a Kilinochchi press conference the newly appointed Military leader of Prabhakaran for the Ampara and Batticaloa areas attacked Karuna as a man who defied the leadership without any help from the others. The LTTE news website quoted the newly appointed, Special Commander for Batticaloa-Ampara district T. Ramesh as saying "the events in Batticaloa are caused by a single individual. The decision Karuna has made is his own. He has not discussed this with the leadership. The commanders, officials and fighters do not accept the decisions he has made on his own."

But Ramesh’s claims that Karuna was an isolated man without any support is yet to be seen.

When the press asked Ramesh the question, “ You have said that the matter has been precipitated by some malicious elements opposed to the Tamil Eelam liberation struggle. Can you elaborate?”, he said, “ We cannot comment on this at this time,” leading to many speculations that the LTTE was afraid that a regional power like India was also backing Karuna.(

( go2lanka.com)