Tiger dissident Karuna in his latest interview has blasted LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran as a mad dictator and traitor who has given up the quest for Eelam and is pleading for an interim administration.
He says Prabhakaran's people are killing not only fighters but also innocent civilians in Batticaloa. Karuna says he is committed to the democratic process and re-affirms that he will form a political party soon. He claims that he is still in Sri Lanka and charges that it is the Wanni LTTE leadership that is working with the Sri Lankan army. He says the newly appointed military leader Banu travels in armed forces helicopters, with SLA protection. In an interview with the London-based Tamil Broadcasting Corporation, Karuna also spoke of the death of his elder brother Reggie.
Excerpts from the interview:
Q:There are reports of several attacks in the eastern province. Last week, we heard that Reggie, your brother and a long time LTTE fighter, had been killed. How true are these reports?
A: That is true. A stooge of Prabhakaran killed my brother. I wouldn't say that is a new thing, because hundreds of LTTE fighters were killed by Prabhakaran. He will continue these killings of fellow fighters. So, I have to feel sorry and sad for all those fighters killed by Prabhakaran, not just for the single person Reggie. But I want to say one thing. Reggie died fighting against the dictatorship of Prabhakaran, against the oppression of Prabhakaran. So, I am in fact proud of my brother. They carried out a big propaganda. They spread rumours and misled people to believe that we ran away from our people, we went abroad, and so on. This incident shows that we are with our people. We always will be with our people. So, I don't want our people to get frustrated or shocked by the killing of Reggie or any of our fighters.
We were forced to fight against the dictatorship and fascism of Prabhakaran. So we have to fight with vigour and strength.
So I ask our people to come together and fight the evil forces of Prabhakaran. I ask the Tamil youths to join together and put a stop to the murders and heinous crimes committed by him.
I am sure Prabhakaran cannot get anything positive for our people. Because he is only concerned about his legacy. He declared himself as the 'great leader', the 'national leader' and wants to crown himself as the greatest leader ever. How can a mad person who had killed thousands of his own people be the national leader? How can this person be a great leader? So, now there is a need for the people of the north and east to think about this. He had killed several political leaders and intellectuals. He had killed people like Amirthalingam. How can he be the leader of the Tamils? So, I am sure people will be thinking about these and when they come to realize all this, they will have no other choice but to reject Prabhakaran. His dancing with terrorism will not liberate our people.
When Amirthalingam and other TULF leaders were killed by the LTTE, these leaders were asking for a separate state. The LTTE reasoned out that these leaders were going to give-up on Tamil Eelam. What is happening today? Prabhakaran is begging for the interim administration. He is telling 'Give us the interim administration'. That is the pathetic status of our liberation struggle now. Prabhakaran has become the biggest traitor of all for the Tamils. He said, "I will get separate state, I will get Thamil Eelam", and now he gave up all that, and is asking for 'Interim Administration'. It has come to that pathetic state. In this process to hang on to his power, no matter what he gets for the Tamil people, Prabhakaran will continue to kill more people. He is going to kill several others. So, we need to fight him strongly.
(http://www.dailymirror.lk/2004/10/06/front/1.asp)
