Karuna sets agenda

Col. Karuna has asked the TNA to fight elections on the basis of regional development issues, and not on the political issue of "Tamil Nationalism", as demanded by the Prabhakaran.

The rebel LTTE leader, Colonel Karuna, has asked the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in his fiefdom of Batticaloa-Amparai, to fight the April 2 Sri Lankan parliamentary elections on the basis of regional development issues, and not on the political issue of "Tamil Nationalism", as demanded by the Prabhakaran faction based in northern Sri Lanka.

HT Image

The Karuna group's political commissar, Visu, told candidates of the TNA in his political headquarters in Batticoloa on Monday that it would be appropriate for the TNA from Batticaloa-Amparai district to try and join the Sri Lankan government after the elections. Since he split from Prabhakaran on March 3, Karuna's faction of the LTTE has been functioning as "Liberation Tigers-Batticaloa-Amparai" or LTBA.

It has been Karuna's case, that the Batticaloa-Amparai district has been neglected by the northern leaders of the LTTE, both politically and economically, though the district has contributed the most to the cause of Eelam in blood as well as manpower.