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Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) ( ta, தமிழ் மக்கள் விடுதலைப்புலிகள், en, Tamil Peoples Liberation Tigers), previously known as the "Karuna Group", is a political party in
Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
. It was formed by
Karuna Amman Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan (''nom de guerre'': Colonel Karuna Amman; ta, விநாயகமூர்த்தி முரளிதரன், ''Vināyakamūrtti Muraḷitaraņ'', born 22 June 1966) is a Sri Lankan politician and former ...
(Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan), a former leader of the
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; ta, தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள், translit=Tamiḻīḻa viṭutalaip pulikaḷ, si, දෙමළ ඊළාම් විමුක්ති කොටි, t ...
, after he defected from the organization in 2004. Initially a paramilitary group that helped the
Sri Lankan Government The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) ( si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජය, Śrī Lankā Rajaya; ta, இலங்கை அரசாங்கம்) is a parliamentary system determined by the Sri Lankan Constitution. It administers the is ...
fight the Tamil Tigers, the TMVP was registered as a political party in 2007. Under deputy leader Pillayan (Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan), they contested their first provincial elections in 2008, winning a majority in the
Eastern Provincial Council The Eastern Provincial Council (EPC ta, கிழக்கு மாகாண சபை ''Kiḻakku Mākāṇa Capai''; si, නැගෙනහිර පළාත් සභාව “Nagenahira Palat Sabava”; EPC) is the provincial council for ...
. Members of the TMVP continue to carry arms under the auspices of the Sri Lankan government, which they claim is for their own safety from the Tamil Tigers, who carry out repeated attacks against them. The group is believed to be working with the
Sri Lankan Army ta, இலங்கை இராணுவம் , image = File:Sri Lanka Army Logo.png , image_size = 180px , caption = Emblem of the Sri Lanka Army , start_date ...
. They have been accused of human rights violation by local and international human rights organization.


History

The break-up between the LTTE and the
Batticaloa Batticaloa ( ta, மட்டக்களப்பு, ''Maṭṭakkaḷappu''; si, මඩකලපුව, ''Maḍakalapuwa'') is a major city in the Eastern Province, Sri Lanka, and its former capital. It is the administrative capital of the B ...
-based Karuna group occurred in March 2004. Karuna and others felt that
Prabhakaran Velupillai Prabhakaran (; ta, வேலுப்பிள்ளை பிரபாகரன்; , (26 November 1954 – 18 May 2009) was a Sri Lankan Tamil guerrilla and the founder and leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) ...
had become a dictator of a state that used Northern Tamils to oppress the Eastern Tamils and that Eastern Tamils were not given due recognition for "laying down their lives in disproportionate numbers for the northern leadership". Together with Indian-based
Eelam National Democratic Liberation Front The Eelam National Democratic Liberation Front (ENDLF) is a former Indian backed Tamil militant group in Sri Lanka. It was formed in 1987 as an amalgamation of splinter groups from other militant groups (Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Fr ...
, TVMP has formed Tamileela Iykkiya Viduthalai Munnani as a united front. The purported aim and the motive of the party are to safeguard the rights of Tamils within the Eastern Province. The president of TMVP was
Kumaraswamy Nandagopan Kumaraswamy Nanthakopan (Tamil language, Tamil: குமாரசுவாமி நந்தகோபன்; 1970 – November 14, 2008), also known as his ''nom de guerre'' Ragu, was the president of the political party of the Tamil Makkal Viduth ...
until he was assassinated in November 2008 and the general secretary G.E. Gnanarajah. The third in command is Mangalan Master. Since its formation, the group worked with the
Sri Lankan Army ta, இலங்கை இராணுவம் , image = File:Sri Lanka Army Logo.png , image_size = 180px , caption = Emblem of the Sri Lanka Army , start_date ...
to combat the Tamil Tigers. They have been accused of using children to combat the
LTTE The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; ta, தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள், translit=Tamiḻīḻa viṭutalaip pulikaḷ, si, දෙමළ ඊළාම් විමුක්ති කොටි, t ...
and have allegedly committed human rights violations in the East of the island. The TMVP, in conjunction with the
Government of Sri Lanka The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) ( si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජය, Śrī Lankā Rajaya; ta, இலங்கை அரசாங்கம்) is a parliamentary system determined by the Sri Lankan Constitution. It administers the is ...
on December 1, 2008 signed an action plan stating that they would cease the recruitment of child soldiers and that they would also release from combat all child soldiers.


Internal affairs


Internal struggles

The TMVP has been affected by internal struggles between
Colonel Karuna Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan ('' nom de guerre'': Colonel Karuna Amman; ta, விநாயகமூர்த்தி முரளிதரன், ''Vināyakamūrtti Muraḷitaraņ'', born 22 June 1966) is a Sri Lankan politician and forme ...
and Pillaiyan. Small skirmishes broke out between the Pillaiyan and Karuna factions with some fatalities in May 2007, October 2007, and in May 2008. However, Dheeban the
Trincomalee Trincomalee (; ta, திருகோணமலை, translit=Tirukōṇamalai; si, ත්‍රිකුණාමළය, translit= Trikuṇāmaḷaya), also known as Gokanna and Gokarna, is the administrative headquarters of the Trincomalee Dis ...
district leader of the TMVP, denied a split claiming "the split between Karuna and Pillaiyan is a mere media fabrication". In mid-October 2008, Karuna cadres ransacked the office of Pillaiyan, leading to government consternation and intervention. That same week, the Karuna faction took over the "Thamil Alai" newspaper, the organ of the TMVP, which had been run by Pillaiyan in Karuna's absence. However in late October, Karuna "made it a point to emphasise that there were no differences between them". Due to the internecine feuds between varying factions of the TMVP, the
Government of Sri Lanka The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) ( si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජය, Śrī Lankā Rajaya; ta, இலங்கை அரசாங்கம்) is a parliamentary system determined by the Sri Lankan Constitution. It administers the is ...
has decided it would begin the disarmament of the feuding groups in early 2009. As tensions flared up in late 2009, the government began putting restrictions on the placement of TMVP political signs in cities of the East of Sri Lanka.


Proposed name change

"Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Koddani" (Koodani meaning alliance) is a new Tamil political party in
Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
that has been proposed by
Colonel Karuna Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan ('' nom de guerre'': Colonel Karuna Amman; ta, விநாயகமூர்த்தி முரளிதரன், ''Vināyakamūrtti Muraḷitaraņ'', born 22 June 1966) is a Sri Lankan politician and forme ...
, as either a splinter group of, or a new name for the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal. However, Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan has denied that this has proposed, stating "When I met him (Karuna) and asked about this, he said that there was no such thing". The name change has been floated around because Karuna and related figures feel the word "Puligal" meaning Tiger, implies association with the
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; ta, தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள், translit=Tamiḻīḻa viṭutalaip pulikaḷ, si, දෙමළ ඊළාම් විමුක්ති කොටි, t ...
. The TMVP 11 member politburo is currently deliberating on the issue, with Karuna threatening to start the new party if it is not approved. However Karuna spokesman D. Kamalanathan denied both that a name change would take place and that there was a rift within the party, attributing the rumours to those against the TMVP


Human rights violations


General rights violations

The group has been accused by the
Human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...
organizations
Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...
and
Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...
of recruiting children, torture, assassinations and engaging in extortion in its war against the LTTE. Human Rights Watch claimed that from June 2006 to December 2006 they have forcefully recruited several hundred children. The TMVP has also been accused of being involved in kidnappings for ransom of wealthy, predominantly Tamil, businessmen to raise money in Colombo and other towns. Some businessmen were allegedly killed because their family could not pay the ransom. Media has reported that these abductions were linked to the Security forces in these abductions, either directly facilitating them or providing a cover and not taking any action against them. One such abducted man alleged that while he was being transported, from his workplace in Colombo, his abduction vehicle came across Army checkpoints but was not rescued. In 2006, the Tamil Human Rights group UTHR also accused the TMVP of taking part in
death squad A death squad is an armed group whose primary activity is carrying out extrajudicial killings or forced disappearances as part of political repression, genocide, ethnic cleansing, or revolutionary terror. Except in rare cases in which they are ...
activity against civilians.


Connection with the Sri Lankan State

The group is also believed to be actively working with the Sri Lankan Army. According to
Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...
in one incident, the children who were abducted by the TMVP cadres were being held in a store across a Sri Lankan military camp. The parents of the abducted children pleaded with the military but no actions were taken. It was reported that two army men talked to the TMVP cadres and then walked away . Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch said, “The government is fully aware of the abductions but allows them to happen because it’s eager for an ally against the Tamil Tigers”. The Human Rights Watch further added that it would be impossible to transport abducted children without the complicity of the
Sri Lankan Army ta, இலங்கை இராணுவம் , image = File:Sri Lanka Army Logo.png , image_size = 180px , caption = Emblem of the Sri Lanka Army , start_date ...
. In addition, civilians claimed seeing many TMVP cadres at Army checkpoints and claimed that they checked ID's of the people. The
Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...
further claimed that they saw a top Karuna Eastern commander riding atop an army personnel carrier. They also claimed that Armed Karuna cadre openly roamed the streets in Batticaloa district in sight of security forces, and in some cases they jointly patrolled with the police. According to
UTHR *''For the figure in Norse mythology, see Urðr'' The University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna) or UTHR(J) was formed in 1988 at the University of Jaffna, Jaffna, in Sri Lanka, as part of the national organization University Teachers for Huma ...
, a local Human rights organization, two children who escaped from the TMVP later surrendered to the
Sri Lankan Army ta, இலங்கை இராணுவம் , image = File:Sri Lanka Army Logo.png , image_size = 180px , caption = Emblem of the Sri Lanka Army , start_date ...
. The children were taken back to the TMVP camp allegedly by the
Sri Lankan Army ta, இலங்கை இராணுவம் , image = File:Sri Lanka Army Logo.png , image_size = 180px , caption = Emblem of the Sri Lanka Army , start_date ...
and was later beaten to death. Another such incident happened in Trincomalee where the abducted children by the TMVP were taken to a
Sri Lankan Navy ta, இலங்கை கடற்படை , image = Sri Lanka Naval Seal.png , image_size = 180px , caption = Emblem of Sri Lanka Navy , dates = , c ...
check point. Soon the
Sri Lankan Navy ta, இலங்கை கடற்படை , image = Sri Lanka Naval Seal.png , image_size = 180px , caption = Emblem of Sri Lanka Navy , dates = , c ...
personnel came on motorcycles and escorted the Karuna men and their abducted children to the TMVP office. TMVP has also been alleged to have killed INGO workers. Ragunathan Ramalingam, a worker for the International INGO (World Concern), was asked to come to a Navy checkpoint. He was allegedly shot dead when he reached the check point.
SLMM The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) was a multinational body that existed from 2002 to 2008 to monitor the ceasefire between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE, also known as the ''Tamil Tigers'') during ...
claimed that they saw TMVP pass through a checkpoint unchecked. It claimed that a white van, belonging to TMVP cadres, was transporting two 15-year-old boys and four armed civilians passed through an Army check point unchecked. However, the police maintained that they were instructed to check all vehicles and arrest any armed civilians.


Political


Batticaloa local council elections, March 2008

The local council elections of the Batticaloa district was held on March 10, 2008 after 10 years. The Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal ( TMVP) party won all the 9 councils with 70% of high majority of votes also the polling reported as peaceful. The
Batticaloa Batticaloa ( ta, மட்டக்களப்பு, ''Maṭṭakkaḷappu''; si, මඩකලපුව, ''Maḍakalapuwa'') is a major city in the Eastern Province, Sri Lanka, and its former capital. It is the administrative capital of the B ...
town was the only local council that TMVP contested under the banner of ruling
United People's Freedom Alliance The United People's Freedom Alliance (abbreviated UPFA; si, එක්සත් ජනතා නිදහස් සන්ධානය ''Eksath Janathā Nidahas Sandānaya''; ta, ஐக்கிய மக்கள் சுதந்திரக ...
. The largest Tamil party
Tamil National Alliance The Tamil National Alliance ( ta, தமிழ்த் தேசியக் கூட்டமைப்பு ISO 15919: ''tamiḻt tēciyakkūṭṭamaippu''; TNA) is a political alliance in Sri Lanka that represents the country's Sri Lankan ...
totally boycotting these polls.
United National party The United National Party, often abbreviated as UNP ( si, එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය, translit=Eksath Jāthika Pakshaya, ta, ஐக்கிய தேசியக் கட்சி, translit=Aikkiya Tēciyak Kaṭci), ...
(UNP) also boycotted the polls by telling candidates not to run but some UNP candidates names' showed up on the voting list. Both groups claim unfair elections took place. TNA claimed it wasn't safe for them to operate in the east because the TMVP group was armed. TMVP threatened TNA MP's and also captured alive family members of TNA MP prior to the elections. The
BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...
reported that unnamed human rights groups claimed TMVP used violence before the election and therefore the elections were "tainted". Independent candidate Rasiah Thurairatnam claimed that people voted out of fear for the TMVP.


Eastern Provincial Council elections, May 2008

The Eastern Provincial Council elections was held on May 10, 2008. The 37 member provincial council election won by the ruling
UPFA The United People's Freedom Alliance (abbreviated UPFA; si, එක්සත් ජනතා නිදහස් සන්ධානය ''Eksath Janathā Nidahas Sandānaya''; ta, ஐக்கிய மக்கள் சுதந்திரக ...
with the highest number of 20 seats, UNP 15 seats, JVP and other Tamil party 1 each. The TMVP members were contested under the UPFA banner and the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) members contested under the UNP banner. The present TMVP leader Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias ''Pillayan'' has gained the highest number of 41,936 preferential votes from Batticaloa district.


Electoral history


See also

*
Military use of children in Sri Lanka Militant use of children in Sri Lanka has been an internationally recognized problem since the inception of the Sri Lankan civil war in 1983. The primary recruiters of under the age of 18 children are the rebel LTTE movement and the Karuna group, ...
* 2006 murder of TRO workers in Sri Lanka


References

{{Sri Lankan Civil War 2004 establishments in Sri Lanka Factions in the Sri Lankan Civil War Paramilitary organisations based in Sri Lanka Political parties established in 2004 Political parties in Sri Lanka Tamil Eelam Tamil political parties in Sri Lanka United People's Freedom Alliance