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Pro-Sri Lankan government paramilitary leaders Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan, also known as Karuna Amman, and Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan laso known as Pillayan, have formally reunited after 21 years, signing a memorandum of understanding in Batticaloa on 22 March 2025 to work together under a new political alliance.
The move saw the formation of the Eastern Tamil Alliance.
Pillayan, currently the leader of the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP), and Karuna, who is with the Ahila Ilankai Thamizh Maha Sabha now join forces ahead of Sri Lanka’s upcoming local government elections in May.
Karuna and Pillayan were senior commanders in the LTTE until they split in March 2004. Both went on to align with the Sri Lankan state and function as pro-government paramilitary organisations. Both have been accused of human rights abuses including abductions, disappearances and torture.
Karuna served as a Deputy Minister for Resettlement and an MP, while Pillayan was appointed Chief Minister of the Eastern Province after the 2008 elections, amid widespread allegations of voter intimidation and electoral manipulation.
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Despite their shared past and alignment with the Sri Lankan state, Karuna and Pillayan had not formally allied in over two decades until now, after splits emerged between the two.
“This is not a merger. We have been together and continued to be together,” Karuna said at the press conference. “We are united again… for the same purpose for which we came out of the struggle that day through democracy—to retain the people of the Eastern Province.”
"We are united again. For the same purpose for which we came out of the struggle that day through democracy and to retain the people of the Eastern Province, the youth of the Eastern Province, and the Tamil areas of the Eastern Province, we are united again now. I would like to state here that our unity will be towards the path of endless development."
Pillayan told BBC Tamil that the new agreement was based on the urgent need to consolidate Tamil political strength in a multi-ethnic province
"In the multi-ethnic context of this province, the future of the Tamil people is to continue to maintain their political power,” he said. “When it comes to education, economy, health, infrastructure development, and the authority of the Provincial Council, we continue to operate separately, which will set back the people and this province."
"As I mentioned, we have realized that our society is in danger of being further marginalized due to the multi-ethnic nature of our society. On that basis, we have made the Gentleman's Agreement on the basis that we were the main commanders today, due to the public demand to forget the past and correct it and manage a strong Eastern Province political movement in the future."
The newly signed Memorandum of Understanding between the two comes just a week after the formation of the Eastern Tamil Alliance, spearheaded by Pillayan and Sathasivam Viyalendran, a former state minister and former People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) parliamentarian who defected from the now-defunct Tamil National Alliance (TNA).
The announcement came just two days before the United Kingdom announced sanctions on Karuna for war crimes.
