Killing of Rajiv a big blunder -Karuna Tuesday, 14 December 2010 00:41

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Killing of Rajiv a big blunder -Karuna
Tuesday, 14 December 2010 00:41
By Olindhi Jayasundere
Vinayagamoorthi Muralitharan, ex-militant turned Deputy Minister told the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) yesterday that killing of Indian Premier Rajiv Gandhi was a major blunder by the LTTE. Deputy Minister Muralitharan alias Karuna, also told the Commission that Norway gave LTTE large amounts of money for arm procurement during the Ceasefire Agreement in 2002.
Muralitharan said that Norway had a hidden agenda during the ceasefire agreement.
“Norway wanted to achieve something for them through the ceasefire agreement which was a reason for their participation in the agreement process,” Muralitharan said.
“The money received by the LTTE from Norway was utilized for the purchasing of weapons and ammunition,” he said. When Muralitharan was asked by the LLRC as to whether the LTTE bribed Erik Solheim for services rendered, he said that he was not aware of any such situation.
He said that former President Ranasinghe Premadasa during his tenure as President had given the LTTE money and firearms when the terrorist group was weak. He said that LTTE entered peace talks between 2002 and 2008 merely to gain strength and serve their own means.
“It is only when the party was weak and weapons and cardres were lacking that the LTTE would enter peace negotiations,” he said.
He said the Government at the time was unaware of the underhand activities that were taking place during peace negotiations.
He said that the LTTE rose after politicians, including several Tamil politicians used the LTTE to serve their own political agendas. He said that he joined the LTTE during the 1983 riots when he saw the injustice done to the Tamil people. He said he joined the LTTE after requests were made to the public through means of posters and leaflets to join the group which was run on a secretive basis at the time.
Muralitharan said that the LTTE had a lot of influence in India at the time where he received his military training.
He said that even if the peace agreement was signed or not the LTTE would have died an eventual death.
“Members of the LTTE group like me were growing weary of Velupillai Prabhakaran’s leadership at the time,” he said. He said that the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi was wrong.
“It was a big mistake on the part of the LTTE to have assassinated Rajive Gandhi,” he said.
Muralitharan said that reconciliation can be promoted by giving more powers to the Provincial Councils. However he said certain Provincial Council politicians had made requests for police powers which he said was unnecessary.
“The TNA and TMVP have asked for police powers. If we do this, the majority community will get suspicious. In a small country such as ours it is not necessary,” he said