Karuna wishes to meet Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi

Hilary Rajakarunanayake, Editor – Sri Lanka, Asian Tribune

Colombo, 21 May, (Asiantribune.com): Vinayagamoorthi Karuna Amman with his former guiding deity Prabhakaran – File Photo.Muralidaran nom de guerre Karuna Amman, who is a State Minister of National Integration and Reconciliation today in the Sri Lanka Government and who until recently was LTTE chief Prabhakaran’s closest aide of 22 years as Colonel Karuna says he wants to meet Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi to explain to them the "circumstances that led to Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination".

Vinayagamurthy Muralitharan alias Karuna, whose 2004 revolt played a vital role in the weakening of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), also said the Tigers would never rise again. He said there's no one left in the LTTE to carry out guerrilla attacks anymore.

Among the handful of people who identified the body of Prabhakaran was Karuna, a long-time confidant of the LTTE chief who sensationally revolted with thousands in March 2004 seriously weakening the LTTE.

Karuna, a native o Kiran, Batticaloa, joined the LTTE in 1983 and went on to become the LTTE commander of the entire eastern province. For years he was seen as a Prabhakaran loyalist. He was a member of the LTTE delegation that held talks with the Sri Lankan Government between 2002-03 and was on the side of Prabhakaran once his mentor and leader, when he addressed the media in April 2002.

Karuna, who is at present also an MP and Vice President of the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), is most likely to contest the next general election to Parliament from the Eastern Province.

A politician today, Karuna dismissed speculation that sections of the surrendered LTTE cadres or its supporters abroad would be able to revive another group like the Tigers.

"It is not possible," Karuna said with an air of certainty. "There are no circumstances, no conditions for such a thing to happen. People are fed up with all this violence. There are absolutely no chances of another LTTE group to resurface."

Karuna blamed Prabhakaran for his own death, saying if he had been a better strategist, he should have dispersed his forces and senior leaders once the Sri Lankan military went on the offensive from late last year.

"But he did not do that. It shows he was foolish. He must have perhaps thought that somehow the international community would be able to enforce a ceasefire due to the plight of civilians and he would survive

"Indeed, if he had been a good leader, he would not have insisted on an independent state for so long. He should have known it would never happen. If only he had transformed his military victories into political victories, the Tamils would be holding their heads high today. That did not happen."

Karuna said he had advised both Prabhakaran and the then LTTE political wing leader S.P. Tamilselvan, who was killed in 2007, to understand the global changes and reform the LTTE. But they did not pay heed.

"The problem is that some of those close to Prabhakaran had boosted his ego. They made him think he was infallible, that he could never be defeated. He was misled," Karuna said, recalling the times when he was in the LTTE.

The way forward for the Tamils, Karuna said, was democracy.

"That's the only way. Imagine if we had a good parliamentary group, we could have done wonders for the Tamils, even in this dark hour. The TNA is useless," he said, referring to the pro-LTTE Tamil National Alliance, the largest Tamil grouping in the 225-seat Sri Lankan parliament.

Karuna said the Tamil community was at a crossroad after the deaths of around 90,000 people since 1983 in the Tamil Eelam struggle. This included some 24,000 LTTE guerrillas.

What the Tamils gained after all this bloodshed, he was asked. Karuna replied: "Nothing."

- Asian Tribune -