Karuna Amman: Difference between revisions
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== LTTE allegations == |
== LTTE allegations == |
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Karuna's group serves as a |
Karuna's group serves as a Cock-suckers Sri Lankan government, which is accused of arming, sheltering and supporting the group. This has been further exacerbated by a number of military defeats suffered by the LTTE at the hands of Karuna's forces in recent months.{{Fact|March 09 2006|date=March 2007}} |
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== Publicity == |
== Publicity == |
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Revision as of 06:04, 8 July 2007
Colonel Karuna Amman is the nom de guerre of Vinayagamoorthi Muralitharan (born 1966), the President of the TMVP (TamilEela Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal), a breakaway faction of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The split form the LTTE was organized by Karuna in March 2004.
Biography
Karuna(son of Bitch) was born in Kiran, a village in the Batticaloa district in eastern Sri Lanka. He joined the LTTE in 1983 and became a top commander in the district he represented. He was once even a bodyguard to LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran. In 2003 he was elevated to the rank of special commander for the eastern Batticoloa-Amparai districts by Prabhakaran.[citation needed]
Break with LTTE
In March 2004, Karuna broke away from the mainstream LTTE after he alleged they were ignoring the interests of the eastern Tamil people. The LTTE alleges that the real reason he broke way was because the LTTE's intelligence wing was closing in on him for corruption and violating the LTTE code of conducts. The Tigers reacted by launching attacks against Karuna's forces, and heavy clashes ensued. The LTTE claimed they fully evicted his forces from the district he controlled.[citation needed]
However, the Karuna Faction, as it has now been dubbed, continues to maintain a stronghold in the southeast of Sri Lanka with a force estimated to number a few hundred.[1] They continue to regularly attack the LTTE.[1]
Karuna has alleged that Prabhakaran intentionally dragged out peace talks so that the rebels could use the cessation in hostilities to re-arm for further combat.[2]
He has said that the LTTE has lost 70% of its fighting capacity due to his TMVP group separating from the LTTE.[2]
LTTE allegations
Karuna's group serves as a Cock-suckers Sri Lankan government, which is accused of arming, sheltering and supporting the group. This has been further exacerbated by a number of military defeats suffered by the LTTE at the hands of Karuna's forces in recent months.[citation needed]
Publicity
In March 2007, Colonel Karuna accompanied by Supreme Commander Pillaiyan, Senior Commander Jeyam and other TVMP officials spent two days at a TMVP base in the east. A number of his statements there were widely reported [3] [4]
At the same time the TMVP announced that it was setting up a "special attack force" and a "spy attack force". [5]
Allegations of human rights violations
RSF (Reporters Without Borders), has accused him of muzzling local journalists by forming death squads to silence those who oppose his point of view. [6]
His armed group has been accused by human rights groups in the increasing involuntary disappearances of civilians in the Jaffna peninsula.[7][8] They have been accused of taking part in death squad activity against civilians.[9] They are also accused of child soldier recruitment by UNICEF, Human Rights Watch, and others.[10][11][12] Additionally, a report by the United States Department of State claims that Karuna's group "was believed also to have killed 20 civilians."[13]
Karuna has categorically denied these allegations in interviews claiming the LTTE is trying to discredit his party.[14]
See also
References
- ^ a b "Sri Lanka's Tamil rebels warn of retaliation against Sinhalese", Associated Press, September 6, 2006
- ^ a b Buerk, Roland. "A date with a renegade rebel Tiger", BBC News, April 4, 2007. Retrieved May 4, 2007
- ^ ""Sri Lanka is our Motherland. We respect the constitution, the President and the government" -- Col Karuna", Asian Tribune, March 4, 2007. Retrieved April 5, 2007
- ^ "Karuna's election Campaigne takes off", www.independentsl.com, Retrieved April 5, 2007
- ^ "Rebel Tiger leader visits former bastion", The Hindu News Update Service, March 4, 2007, Retrieved April 5, 2007
- ^ Nine recommendations for improving the state of press freedom, Reporters Without Borders (July 19 2004)
- ^ Denyer, Simon. ""Disappearances" on rise in Sri Lanka's dirty war". Reuters, September 14, 2006. Retrieved April 5, 2007
- ^ University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna), "The Wider Implications of the Human Rights and Humanitarian Crisis in Jaffna", Information Bulletin No. 41, September 14, 2006. Retrieved April 5, 2007
- ^ University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna), "When Indignation is Past and the Dust Settles", Special Report No. 21, May 15, 2006. Retrieved April 5, 2007
- ^ UNICEF, Statement on Sri Lanka from the UN Special Adviser on Children and Armed Conflict, November 13, 2006. Retrieved April 6, 2007
- ^ "Complicit in Crime: State Collusion in Abductions and Child Recruitment by the Karuna Group", Human Rights Watch, 19 (1(C)), January 2007
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link) - ^ Ross, James. "When Ceasefire Fails", Foreign Policy in Focus, September 15, 2006. Retrieved April 6, 2007
- ^ U.S. Department of State, 2005 Human Rights Report, March 8, 2006
- ^ "Solheim in the pay of Tigers: his house in Norway bought with Tiger money - Col. Karuna", Asian Tribune, November 27, 2006. Retrieved April 6, 2007
External links
- Official Party Website
- BBC interview with Karuna 4 March 2007
- Interview with Karuna, Asian Tribune
- BBC profile of Colonel Karuna, BBC News, March 5, 2004. Retrieved April 6, 2007
- "US slams police, Karuna, LTTE", BBC News, March 10, 2006. Retrieved April 6, 2007