03-09-2004, 10:00 PM
<img src='http://www.dailymirror.lk/2004/03/10/imgs/frontl.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image'>
<b>Monday's picture of the expelled LTTE Batticaloa-Ampara leader Karuna' ® speaking to women cadres at Batticaloa in a ceremony to mark International Women's Day. -AFP</b>
Pathuman dead or alive?
By Shakuntala Perera and Sunil Jayasiri
Military intelligence sources yesterday confirmed an SLBC report that the LTTE's Trincomalee district military commander Pathuman had been killed by the Wanni leadership -- but the LTTE denied the report as a canard spread by interested parties to spread confusion among the Tamil people.
A spokesman for the Karuna faction said they also feared that Pathuman -- known to be a loyalist of Karuna -- had been killed by the Northern leadership but they could not confirm it.
The Karuna faction spokesman Varathan said Pathuman had been under house arrest by the Wanni administration and might have been killed early yesterday.
Pathuman had gone to the Wanni soon after Karuna spoke out against the Northern leadership. Reports said Pathuman's aim was to sort out the crisis but the Northern leaders put him under house arrest.
But the LTTE's Trincomalee district political head, S. Thilak, told TamilNet yesterday evening that the news of Pathuman's killing was a canard by some interested parties to create panic and confusion among Tamil people.
"The State-run Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation in its noon news broadcast reported that Pathuman had been killed in Wanni. The SLBC report is untrue, malicious and mischievous and has been spread in a planned way to create confusion among Tamils," Mr. Tilak said in Mutur.
He appealed to Tamils "not to believe such reports, which have been spread, with ulterior motive". "Colonel Pathuman has gone to the Wanni to meet our national leader as a part of his routine visit once in three months," Mr. Thilak said.
Last night, TamilNet reported that Pathuman had spoken to it by telephone from Wanni, saying, "I am keeping fine". Pathuman appealed to the Tamil people not to be misled by reports in the state media.
At last Saturday's LTTE news conference in Kilinochchi, Pathuman was seen with LTTE political wing leader S.P. Thamilselvan but the Trinco military chief was not in military uniform and this fuelled more speculation about his future.
Varathan said yesterday Karuna was not interested in a pardon or an amnesty which a Batticaloa delegation led by Bishop Kingsley Swampillai was reportedly trying to work out with the LTTE leaders in the Wanni.
He said the Karuna faction wanted effective steps to end the discrimination against the Eastern cadres. Varathan said the dissident group was ready to peacefully resolve the issues without resorting to violence but it wanted justice and fairplay.
However, reports from the East indicated there were RPG attacks or other clashes involving killer squads allegedly sent to the east from the Wanni.
Reports also said the newly-appointed Swarnam group would hold a hartal in the Trincomalee district today against the dissident Karuna faction.
Varathan last night denied reports of killings by rival parties, saying they were rumours spread by various sources to create panic.
He said they did not participate in a meeting between the army and Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission representatives in Vaunathivu yesterday as they no longer came under the purview of the ceasefire agreement signed between the government and the LTTE.
"There is a technical problem because we no longer are under the control of the Wanni administration and this means that we are not a part of the agreement," he said.
Thanx: Daily Mirror
Also refer to Tamil Net (<b>Colonel Pathuman speaks to TamilNet</b>)
http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=11430
<b>Monday's picture of the expelled LTTE Batticaloa-Ampara leader Karuna' ® speaking to women cadres at Batticaloa in a ceremony to mark International Women's Day. -AFP</b>
Pathuman dead or alive?
By Shakuntala Perera and Sunil Jayasiri
Military intelligence sources yesterday confirmed an SLBC report that the LTTE's Trincomalee district military commander Pathuman had been killed by the Wanni leadership -- but the LTTE denied the report as a canard spread by interested parties to spread confusion among the Tamil people.
A spokesman for the Karuna faction said they also feared that Pathuman -- known to be a loyalist of Karuna -- had been killed by the Northern leadership but they could not confirm it.
The Karuna faction spokesman Varathan said Pathuman had been under house arrest by the Wanni administration and might have been killed early yesterday.
Pathuman had gone to the Wanni soon after Karuna spoke out against the Northern leadership. Reports said Pathuman's aim was to sort out the crisis but the Northern leaders put him under house arrest.
But the LTTE's Trincomalee district political head, S. Thilak, told TamilNet yesterday evening that the news of Pathuman's killing was a canard by some interested parties to create panic and confusion among Tamil people.
"The State-run Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation in its noon news broadcast reported that Pathuman had been killed in Wanni. The SLBC report is untrue, malicious and mischievous and has been spread in a planned way to create confusion among Tamils," Mr. Tilak said in Mutur.
He appealed to Tamils "not to believe such reports, which have been spread, with ulterior motive". "Colonel Pathuman has gone to the Wanni to meet our national leader as a part of his routine visit once in three months," Mr. Thilak said.
Last night, TamilNet reported that Pathuman had spoken to it by telephone from Wanni, saying, "I am keeping fine". Pathuman appealed to the Tamil people not to be misled by reports in the state media.
At last Saturday's LTTE news conference in Kilinochchi, Pathuman was seen with LTTE political wing leader S.P. Thamilselvan but the Trinco military chief was not in military uniform and this fuelled more speculation about his future.
Varathan said yesterday Karuna was not interested in a pardon or an amnesty which a Batticaloa delegation led by Bishop Kingsley Swampillai was reportedly trying to work out with the LTTE leaders in the Wanni.
He said the Karuna faction wanted effective steps to end the discrimination against the Eastern cadres. Varathan said the dissident group was ready to peacefully resolve the issues without resorting to violence but it wanted justice and fairplay.
However, reports from the East indicated there were RPG attacks or other clashes involving killer squads allegedly sent to the east from the Wanni.
Reports also said the newly-appointed Swarnam group would hold a hartal in the Trincomalee district today against the dissident Karuna faction.
Varathan last night denied reports of killings by rival parties, saying they were rumours spread by various sources to create panic.
He said they did not participate in a meeting between the army and Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission representatives in Vaunathivu yesterday as they no longer came under the purview of the ceasefire agreement signed between the government and the LTTE.
"There is a technical problem because we no longer are under the control of the Wanni administration and this means that we are not a part of the agreement," he said.
Thanx: Daily Mirror
Also refer to Tamil Net (<b>Colonel Pathuman speaks to TamilNet</b>)
http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=11430
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