KARUNA SAYS VELUPILLAI PRABHAKARAN HAS BEEN TURNED INTO A LAME DUCK AND DOES NOT HAVE ANY CHANCE OF STARTING WAR
By Walter Jayawardhana reporting from Los Angeles
March 08, 12.50 PM: In an exclusive interview published in the popular Sinhala daily “Divaina” the renegade Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) leader Col.Karuna said that since the majority of soldiers of LTTE’s armed forces were under his command in the Eastern Province, LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran had been turned in to a lame duck.
He did not have a dog’s chance of starting another war, he claimed.
“Therefore”, he said, “none of his commands regarding the Eastern Province would ever be implemented under any circumstances.”
He very clearly insisted that the MOU, Prabhakaran signed with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe would be no longer valid regarding the Eastern Province and pointed out the wisdom of preparing a fresh Ceasefire Agreement in regard to the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka now.
Karuna said that it was true that all squads of Suicide Bombers, which many consider as the world’s largest squadron of walking bombs, were under the direct command of Velupillai Prabhakaran and the intelligence unit was under Pottu Amman but LTTE’s main fighting machine, the armed forces were under his control in the Eastern Province. Therefore, his was the most militarily powerful unit, the renegade general pointed out.
Karuna said the undisciplined activities of Pottu Amman’s Intelligence unit of the LTTE led to the break up of the rebel group and due to the powerful position of the Eastern Province they could not even think of attacking them.
He said thousands of people in the East sacrificed their lives for the Tamil Tigers but the LTTE leadership failed to do justice for the very people. It was ridiculous for those very people to state that they were now prepared to listen to any grievances of the Eastern people, Karuna said.
Karuna promised that he would dedicate for the overall peace of the whole country and the development of the Eastern Province for its people who worked dedicatedly to protect Wanni so far. The renegade general said that the people of the Eastern Province who were badly neglected by the LTTE leadership made them very much depressed. Under such circumstances, the East was becoming extremely strong, he said.
Karuna said the rumor that he requested protection from the Sri Lanka government was absolutely untrue and he would like to totally reject it
Karuna said the Sri Lanka government should come to sign a MOU with him. If they refused to sign such a MOU, Karuna warned, the government would come to know his group’s power very soon. He said the matter is under discussion among the leadership of the Eastern Province.
He said he was prepared to accept the participation of Norway for that purpose.
He told the newspaper that he received the wholehearted support of the people of the Eastern Province
Karuna said, he was prepared to listen to the grievances of the Muslim people in the province and entitle them for the lands deprived to them in the past. . Karuna said he was prepared to let all people live in freedom in the area.
He appealed to the newspaper not to divulge the location from which he was giving the interview for security reasons.
The newspaper published the names of its reporters , Mohamed Ghouse, Janaka Liyanarachchi, and Nilantha Madurawela who reported the story from Batticaloa .
