TMVP is remembering their 3rd year of separation from the LTTE on April 10th 2004 when 175 Karuna cadres, including female cadres, were massacred in Verukal in an attack by the LTTE to prevent the separation.
Regarding the separation V. Muralitharan (Karuna amman) has given statement to their web site. “Earlier it was seem as a single person’s problem with the LTTE. Now there is more clarity on the extent of the problem after we got strength through military wise and political wise with support of eastern people”.
However they reached this position with help of few cadres and supporters. Now the situation is that those cadres are being sidelined and being dominate by some others.
After the separation TMVP had only around 30 cadres. 5 to 10 carders were very confident and trust among them by Karuna. In the beginning he lost his trusted 6 cadres in a shooting incident in Colombo Kottawa in 2004.
They were senior and experienced and earlier in the LTTE.
After this incident Karuna faced defence problems and lacked political support from parties like UNP. Because the UNP government lack their ruling power.
(Interestingly, pro-Karuna websites also mention that the Army had helped the LTTE to fight the Karuna faction on the day the Karuna faction broke away, highlighting that the TMVP is fighting for rights of Tamils and is not aligned with the military.)
Hereafter ‘Pillayan’ took leader ship of TMVP and sent Karuna abroad safely. Pillyan had to face many challenges to buildup a powerful team due to LTTE threats. However he was able to reach his goal.
The TMVP has over 1000 cadres now. Karuna satisfied in Pillayan’s activities. Actually Pillayan didn’t like publicity. He worked for Karuna day and night.
Pillayan, now considered no 2 in TMVP, mostly focused on political way as well as military. On the other hand ‘Pradheep master’ sacrificed his whole time to build up military strength. They both were like wings of Karuna. During that period the group faced economic problems, lack of cadres etc.
They needed 9 lakh rupees per month. They got 6 lakh from donors and faced difficulties to cover balance 3 lakhs. But Pillayan and Pratheep master covered this sortage in difficulties through taxes. Over two years they build up good base for TMVP.
After the arrival of Karuna from abroad to the battle field last year there were lot of changes. Few regional military leaders spread lot of issues against Pillayan and Pradheep master to reduce their power and good will with Karuna for a lot of reasons:
a. Pillayan was not allow their cadres to misuse money and bribe.
b. Pillayan and Pradheep master have a good approach to reduce ethnic tension between Tamil, Muslim communities without violence.
c. They both launched operations up to ‘Toppigala’. Therefore they got top position among Karuna and other cadres.
These policies of Pillayan and Pradheep master created good will among the Tamil community in east as well as Muslim communities.
However Karuna made mistakes in the TMVP setup. He changed regional leaders and changed positions also. Due to these changes few cadres got fed up and some joined LTTE also. Jeyam, now he is at the position of Pradheep Master), and Paarathi are both misusing their power. They created tension among the Tamil Muslim relationship. Like Karbala in Kattankudy.
Now they are both involved in earning money. Jeyam is cultivating paddi and Paarathi is involved in fishing. But they are both getting personal benefits in the name of TMVP. Such issues came in front of Karuna several times through several ways.
But others who were opposed to Pillayan and Paarathi spread rumours that Pillayan and his cadres joined with LTTE.
Issues such as these are big inside the TMVP. One senior leader said: “I am prepared for a big operation against the LTTE. Once its finished i’ll go abroad and live peacefully”. Some cadres blame Karuna also for bad decisions and the structural changes to his group. If it is to continue the TMVP may also divide in to more groups in the future.