Sri Lankan govt denies harboring renegade Tamil rebel leader

The Sri Lankan government has denied the Tamil rebel accusations that it has provided shelter to their renegade eastern commander Karuna and helped him to carry out hostilities against the Tigers.

Defense Secretary Cyril Herath said that the Sri Lankan government was committed to a negotiated settlement to the country' s two decade of ethnic conflict and therefore would not act against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebel interests, the state-owned Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation reported.

Vinayagamurthi Muralitharan alias Karuna broke ranks with the LTTE leadership in March after defying orders of the rebel supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran for deployment of his combatants in the north of the country.

The rebels launched a military offensive against Karuna in April and wrested control of the east from the renegade commander.

His whereabouts has not been known since then. The LTTE has accused the military of supporting him to carry out several murders of the eastern rebels loyal to Prabhakaran.

The government categorically denies that "we are supporting Karuna against the LTTE. We are committed to peace process and we would not do anything to jeopardize peace," Herath said.

Four of Karuna's senior women combatants deserted him on Friday and rejoined the main rebel group.

They charged that the army had provided shelter to Karuna and he was living with the military.

Responding to the charge Herath said they must come out with a clear statement as to how they had gathered information about any covert military assistance to Karuna.

The LTTE and the new Sri Lankan government, which came to power after the April 2 parliamentary elections, have been making preparations for resumption of the Norwegian-brokered peace negotiations stalled since April last year.

But the LTTE warned the government that any proof of military backing of Karuna could have serious consequences on the peace process.

Source: Xinhua