user warning: Got error -1 from storage engine query: SELECT r.nid, MATCH(r.body, r.title) AGAINST ('Karuna group quits anti-LTTE alliance in Batticaloa <strong>By P.K. Balachandran, IANS</strong>\r\n\r\nColombo : The recently forged anti-Tamil Tiger political alliance in the eastern Sri Lankan Tamil-speaking district of Batticaloa has split.\r\n\r\nThe Tamileela Makkal Viduthalai Puligal (TMVP) founded by the breakaway Tamil Tiger leader, Col. Karuna, has announced that it will go it alone in the forthcoming local body elections.\r\n\r\n\"Our intention is to test the political waters in Batticaloa, and see how much support we, as TMVP, have among the people here. We are in active politics for the last two years, and are keen to know how effective we have been,\" TMVP spokesman Azad Mowlana told IANS over phone from Batticaloa Monday.\r\n\r\nOn Dec 29 last year, the TMVP, the Peoples\' Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE), the Eelam Peoples\' Revolutionary Liberation Front-Padmanabha (EPRLF-P) and the Eelam Peoples\' Democratic Party (EPDP) had resolved to form a common front against the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), which is pro-LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam).\r\n\r\nBut at a meeting Saturday, the TMVP gave it in writing that it was withdrawing from the alliance and going it alone in the elections due this March.\r\n\r\nSerious differences between the TMVP and other anti-Tamil Tiger parties have come to light.\r\n\r\nThe TMVP has said that it has no rigid stand on the question of the unity of the northern and eastern provinces to form a single Tamil-speaking province with autonomy. But PLOTE, EPRLF-P and EPDP have made it clear that they will campaign for the re-merger of the north and east, which had been separated by a Supreme Court order.\r\n\r\n\"There should be a referendum in the east about whether the people here want a merger with the north. The 1987 India-Sri Lanka Accord, according to which the north and east were merged, had called for a referendum after the first year of merger. But no referendum has been held so far. Let the government hold a referendum, and we will go by the peoples\' wishes,\" said Mowlana.\r\n\r\nBut in a joint statement, the EPRLF-P, PLOTE and EPDP said Saturday that they would fight for the unification of the north and east and rid the people of Batticaloa of the scourge of abductions, extortions and killings.\r\n\r\nIt is generally alleged that Batticaloa district has been a hotbed of abductions, extortions and killings by the TMVP, with the tacit support of the Sri Lankan armed forces. This is likely to become an election issue with all the non-TMVP parties taking it up.\r\n\r\nThe TMVP is confident of fighting the elections alone even though it is split into two factions - one led by Karuna and the other by his military lieutenant Pillaiyan.\r\n\r\nThe TMVP, which is an armed group functioning in close alliance with the Sri Lankan armed forces, has already neutralized the pro-LTTE TNA, by effectively banning the entry of TNA MPs into Batticaloa district. It has also prevented the TNA from indulging in any political activity in the district.\r\n\r\nMowlana denied that there was a split in the organization. But he acknowledged there were differences of opinion. \"These are being ironed out through discussions,\" he claimed.\r\n\r\n\"Karuna remains the overall leader of TMVP, and Pillaiyan is the field leader, since Karuna is not in Sri Lanka.\"\r\n\r\nKaruna is in detention in London for travelling to Britain on a forged Sri Lankan diplomatic passport.\r\n\r\nElections to nine local bodies in the Tamil-dominated part of Batticaloa district were called for recently, and Jan 18 to 25 was set as the period during which nominations could be filed.\r\n\r\nNo local body elections have been held in these parts of Batticaloa since 1994. Military operations and Tamil Tiger attacks had prevented the holding of elections since then. It was only in 2006-2007 that Batticaloa and other eastern districts were finally cleared of the LTTE and peace restored.\r\n\r\n') AS score FROM node_revisions r INNER JOIN node n ON r.nid = n.nid AND r.vid = n.vid INNER JOIN term_node t ON n.nid = t.nid AND t.tid IN (11,6,15,7,12,8,2,3,1,5,10,4,13,14,9,16,18) WHERE MATCH(r.body, r.title) AGAINST ('Karuna group quits anti-LTTE alliance in Batticaloa <strong>By P.K. Balachandran, IANS</strong>\r\n\r\nColombo : The recently forged anti-Tamil Tiger political alliance in the eastern Sri Lankan Tamil-speaking district of Batticaloa has split.\r\n\r\nThe Tamileela Makkal Viduthalai Puligal (TMVP) founded by the breakaway Tamil Tiger leader, Col. Karuna, has announced that it will go it alone in the forthcoming local body elections.\r\n\r\n\"Our intention is to test the political waters in Batticaloa, and see how much support we, as TMVP, have among the people here. We are in active politics for the last two years, and are keen to know how effective we have been,\" TMVP spokesman Azad Mowlana told IANS over phone from Batticaloa Monday.\r\n\r\nOn Dec 29 last year, the TMVP, the Peoples\' Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE), the Eelam Peoples\' Revolutionary Liberation Front-Padmanabha (EPRLF-P) and the Eelam Peoples\' Democratic Party (EPDP) had resolved to form a common front against the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), which is pro-LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam).\r\n\r\nBut at a meeting Saturday, the TMVP gave it in writing that it was withdrawing from the alliance and going it alone in the elections due this March.\r\n\r\nSerious differences between the TMVP and other anti-Tamil Tiger parties have come to light.\r\n\r\nThe TMVP has said that it has no rigid stand on the question of the unity of the northern and eastern provinces to form a single Tamil-speaking province with autonomy. But PLOTE, EPRLF-P and EPDP have made it clear that they will campaign for the re-merger of the north and east, which had been separated by a Supreme Court order.\r\n\r\n\"There should be a referendum in the east about whether the people here want a merger with the north. The 1987 India-Sri Lanka Accord, according to which the north and east were merged, had called for a referendum after the first year of merger. But no referendum has been held so far. Let the government hold a referendum, and we will go by the peoples\' wishes,\" said Mowlana.\r\n\r\nBut in a joint statement, the EPRLF-P, PLOTE and EPDP said Saturday that they would fight for the unification of the north and east and rid the people of Batticaloa of the scourge of abductions, extortions and killings.\r\n\r\nIt is generally alleged that Batticaloa district has been a hotbed of abductions, extortions and killings by the TMVP, with the tacit support of the Sri Lankan armed forces. This is likely to become an election issue with all the non-TMVP parties taking it up.\r\n\r\nThe TMVP is confident of fighting the elections alone even though it is split into two factions - one led by Karuna and the other by his military lieutenant Pillaiyan.\r\n\r\nThe TMVP, which is an armed group functioning in close alliance with the Sri Lankan armed forces, has already neutralized the pro-LTTE TNA, by effectively banning the entry of TNA MPs into Batticaloa district. It has also prevented the TNA from indulging in any political activity in the district.\r\n\r\nMowlana denied that there was a split in the organization. But he acknowledged there were differences of opinion. \"These are being ironed out through discussions,\" he claimed.\r\n\r\n\"Karuna remains the overall leader of TMVP, and Pillaiyan is the field leader, since Karuna is not in Sri Lanka.\"\r\n\r\nKaruna is in detention in London for travelling to Britain on a forged Sri Lankan diplomatic passport.\r\n\r\nElections to nine local bodies in the Tamil-dominated part of Batticaloa district were called for recently, and Jan 18 to 25 was set as the period during which nominations could be filed.\r\n\r\nNo local body elections have been held in these parts of Batticaloa since 1994. Military operations and Tamil Tiger attacks had prevented the holding of elections since then. It was only in 2006-2007 that Batticaloa and other eastern districts were finally cleared of the LTTE and peace restored.\r\n\r\n') AND n.status <> 0 AND r.nid <> 36080 AND n.type IN ('page','story','0','0','0') GROUP BY n.nid ORDER BY score DESC, r.vid DESC LIMIT 0, 10 in /nfs/c02/h05/mnt/21039/domains/twocircles.net/html/includes/database.mysql.inc on line 172.