Karuna revolt may have a wider impact on Lanka

The revolt of Karuna, the eastern command leader of the LTTE, will not mean a vertical split, but is certainly a huge embarrassment to its s...

The revolt of Karuna, the eastern command leader of the LTTE, will not mean a vertical split, but is certainly a huge embarrassment to its supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran.

Traditionally the east has been a relatively less prosperous region while Jaffna in the north has been known to be the cultural capital of the Lankan Tamils. It is still not clear to which caste Karuna belongs, but the Vellalars of the north are the Brahmins of the Lankan Tamil society, putting on all kinds airs and generally lording it over in the civil society. They might be acknowledging the supremacy of Prabhakaran even though he hails from a fisherman’s caste, but otherwise they are acutely conscious of their caste status and tend to turn up their noses at their lesser brethren.

There are many sayings highlighting the northerners’ affected sense of superiority. It is the general resentment among the non-Vellalars, specifically among the non-northeners, that Karuna seeks to exploit in his moves against those around Prabhakaran.

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In an interview to the Tamil service of the BBC on Sunday, Karuna demanded that three senior leaders including intelligence chief Pottu Amman be withdrawn from the east without any further ado. A couple of days ago he had charged Amman with masterminding some recent political killings in the east. Amman is a key accused in the Rajiv assassination.

For Karuna, if he gets away with his current rebellion and survives as a warlord on his own right, is sure to wreak a terrible havoc. During the IPKF period and when the truce with Premadasa regime broke down, Karuna was behind large-scale massacres.

The police said that Kumar, a resident of Turbhe MIDC in Navi Mumbai, was driving his concrete mixer truck when it collided with an SUV.

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