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Revolt in the north: LTTE warns TULF
In their bid to gain greater political supremacy in the Jaffna peninsula, Tiger guerrillas who forced the cancellation of the official opening of the Jaffna Library on Friday have now issued a warning to the TULF - toe their line or face the consequences.

The warnings have gone down to TULF President V. Anandasangaree who was due to declare open the library. He left Sri Lanka on a visit to Switzerland yesterday morning.

Jaffna Mayor Cellan Kandian told The Sunday Times that the LTTE had told him that if they went ahead with the scheduled opening ceremony "they we will have to face serious consequences".

He said LTTE Jaffna area leader Illamparithy had warned him not to go ahead with the opening ceremony as they did not want other parties to get the credit for the opening.

The LTTE was mainly objecting to the PLOTE, EPDP and the EPRLF that have members in the Jaffna Municipal council. Among those due to take part in the opening ceremony were EPDP leader Douglas Devananda.

At the meeting the mayor had informed the LTTE area leader that he could not decide on his own as all parties in the council had agreed to go ahead with the opening ceremony and he wanted to invite other parties represented in the council for the discussion. But, the LTTE had turned down the request claiming they did not want to discuss the matter with 'anti-Tamil elements'.

After an hour-long meeting with Illamparithy, Mr. Kandian told journalists he would have to consider about himself and his family before he made any comment. The Mayor walked away without elaborating on the discussions, but confirmed that all council members and himself had tendered their resignation from the council.
The term of the council is scheduled to end tomorrow.

The TULF members were divided over the issue that the ceremony had to be called off on the insistence of the LTTE. The dispute between a faction of the TULF and the LTTE has been simmering over the past few months with the first instance being the LTTE opposing the appointment of a member to Parliament who was backed by Mr. Anandasangaree.

Immediately prior to the last parliamentary elections with the formation of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) the LTTE claimed that all Tamil parties had recognized it as the sole representative of the minority Tamils.

Since then the TNA has been toeing the line of the LTTE and some of the TULF members including late M. Sivasithamparam said that the LTTE was the sole representative of the Tamils.

The TNA, of which the TULF is a member, will meet the LTTE representatives in the Wanni on February 22. The Sunday Times learns that the TULF which had been hitherto strongly backing the LTTE is divided over the LTTE decision not to go ahead with the opening ceremony of the rennovated Jaffna Library.

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