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5,000 Lankans gather in support of renegade rebel
Batticaloa, Mar 19: More than 5,000 men, women and children staged a demonstration on Friday in support of a renegade rebel commander who split from the main Tamil Tiger guerrilla army with nearly half its fighters.
Batticaloa, Mar 19: More than 5,000 men, women and children staged a demonstration on Friday in support of a renegade rebel commander who split from the main Tamil Tiger guerrilla army with nearly half its fighters.
The demonstrators pledged solidarity to Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan - also known as Karuna - in front of a Hindu temple in the eastern Sri Lankan town of Batticaloa.
Protesters burnt effigies of three senior rebel leaders who left Muralitharan's breakaway faction to support the Tigers' main commander, Velupillai Prabhakaran. Some of Muralitharan's 6,000 fighters were seen among the demonstrators.
The renegade commander said earlier this month he broke away from the Tamil Tigers because the separatists may be preparing to break a two-year-old truce and launch an offensive against the government of Sri Lanka. The Tigers, who denied the accusations, expelled Muralitharan three days after he announced his decision to defect, and branded him a traitor.
The Tigers began fighting for a separate homeland for ethnic minority Tamils in the north and east in 1983, claiming discrimination by the Sinhalese majority. Nearly 65,000 people have died in the conflict.
A Norwegian-brokered cease-fire in February 2002 halted the fighting, but the split in the rebel ranks has raised fears.
Bureau Report
Protesters burnt effigies of three senior rebel leaders who left Muralitharan's breakaway faction to support the Tigers' main commander, Velupillai Prabhakaran. Some of Muralitharan's 6,000 fighters were seen among the demonstrators.
The renegade commander said earlier this month he broke away from the Tamil Tigers because the separatists may be preparing to break a two-year-old truce and launch an offensive against the government of Sri Lanka. The Tigers, who denied the accusations, expelled Muralitharan three days after he announced his decision to defect, and branded him a traitor.
The Tigers began fighting for a separate homeland for ethnic minority Tamils in the north and east in 1983, claiming discrimination by the Sinhalese majority. Nearly 65,000 people have died in the conflict.
A Norwegian-brokered cease-fire in February 2002 halted the fighting, but the split in the rebel ranks has raised fears.
Bureau Report