Karuna on a collision course with Sri Lanka Government.

Colonel Kauna in a combative mood adamantly refuses to disarm. The renegade Tamil militant leader told on Sunday that his group refuses to lay down arms and will end a unilateral ceasefire and fight the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) if attacked.

Karuna's uncompromising stance may be a new headache to Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajpakse, who has agreed to disarm all armed groups to prevent any future attack by the LTTE.

Sri Lanka Government agreed with the LTTE at a two-day conference held on 22 -23 February, in Geneva that no armed group other than government security forces carries arms or conducts armed operations subsequent to LTTE's insistence that the state act before new talks due in April.

Karuna thundered, "No one can impose their will on us to take (arms) them from us, which we use only for defensive purposes."

The unconciliatory position taken by the Colonel Karuna, according to a Colombo based diplomat would amounts to putting the President of Sri Lanka and the Government in a quandary.

V. Muralitharan alias Colonel Karuna former Batticalao – Amparai districts Special Commander of the LTTE in an interview with the Reuters News Agency said, "We are waiting to see how the sarong-clad Vanni Tigers ... who are terrorizing our people and the army in the north are going to be disarmed in the Jaffna peninsula following the Geneva decision."

"Any provocation or attack by the LTTE would lead to officially ending our unilateral ceasefire," Karuna has declared.

According to political observers, Colonel Karuna's refusal to give up arms would amounts to engaging in a collision course with the Sri Lanka Government.

"Without mincing our words we wish to tell (Prabhakaran) quite categorically that we have our resolve and moral right to hold onto our arms," Karuna told Reuters.

"No one can impose their will on us to take them from us, which we use only for defensive purposes."

Karuna while denouncing the LTTE said, "Our people ... have entrusted us to defend them from the LTTE. Our people will not like us to become submissive and just hand over our weapons to satisfy the LTTE brutes."

Disarming of Karuna was a key demand the LTTE put forward at Geneva in return for not attacking government troops and police personnel.

Accordingly, Sri Lanka agreed, "The GOSL will take all necessary measures in accordance with the Ceasefire Agreement to ensure that no armed group or person other than Government security forces will carry arms or conduct armed operations."

Meanwhile, the unflinching declaration by Colonel Karuna amounts to an affront to the authority of the Sri Lanka President, who claimed to have postponed war by succeeding in the first round of talks with the LTTE, which was described by him as "an important constructive step towards peace in the future."

The unfolding situation in the East according to political analyst put the country in a new threat for the government to tackle to usher in undeterred peace in the country.

The unanswered question facing the country is whether Mahinda Rajapakse dares to tame Karuna and his men?

(http://www.asiantribune.com/show_news.php?id=17184)