Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan - Break With LTTE

Break With LTTE

In March 2004, Muralitharan broke away from the Tamil Tigers after he alleged they were ignoring the interests of the eastern Tamil people, and claimed to have renounced violence at this point. This move by Karuna, to break away from the LTTE and renounce terrorism has been claimed to be one of the major turning points that brought about the end of the two and a half decade conflict. Former Member of Parliament Seyed Ali Zahir Moulana has been hailed as being instrumental in Karuna renouncing terrorism, who in turn joined the democratic mainstream.

The LTTE alleged that the real reason he broke way was because the LTTE's intelligence wing was closing in on him for alleged financial and personal misconduct, terming his break a "temporary aberration". The Tigers reacted to his defection by launching attacks against Muralitharan's forces, and heavy clashes ensued. They claimed to have fully evicted his forces from the area he controlled in mid-2004.

However his group, dubbed the Karuna Faction by the media, continued to maintain a stronghold in the southeast of Sri Lanka with a force estimated to number a few hundred. They also regularly attacked the LTTE. In 2006 the Sri Lankan armed forces launched a major campaign to evict the LTTE from the east of the country, with the assistance of the Karuna Faction. They succeeded in clearing the east of Sri Lanka by July 2007.

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.

He has said that the LTTE has lost 70% of its fighting capacity due to his TMVP group separating from the LTTE.