People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam
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PLOTE stands for People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam. A formerly Tamil militant and currently a minor political party in Sri Lanka.
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[edit] Origins
PLOTE was founded in 1980 by Karthiragamar Uma Maheswaran alias Mukundan who became its General Secretary. He was the Chairman of the LTTE from 1977-1980. He was trained in Lebanon and later in Syria by PFLP Palestinian group. After a bitter rivalry with Velupillai Prabhakaran, Uma Maheswaran left the LTTE in 1980, and formed PLOTE.
[edit] International cooperation
PLOTE was active in cultivating international connections: it established links with Dr. George Habash's Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine PFLP, the Communist party of Tunisia, the Communist-Leninist Party of Algeria, the Turkish Organisation for Solidarity with Palestine, the African National Congress, the FMLN of EI Salvador, the Sandinistas of Nicaragua and the ruling parties of Mauritius and Cuba [citation needed] . These links were later picked up by the LTTE.
[edit] LTTE vs PLOTE
On 19th May, 1982 there was shoot out at about 2145 hrs. at Pondy Bazaar, Mambalam, Madras in which leaders of two prominent Sri Lankan Tamil militant groups opened fire at each other due to internal rivalry. The two members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) leader V. Prabhakaran, and Raghavan alias Sivakumar armed with revolvers opened fire on Jotheeswaran and Mukundan alias Uma Maheswaran, members of Peoples' Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE). In mid seventies both Prabhakaran and Uma Maheswaran were members of the LTTE. During the exchange of fire, Jotheeswaran sustained bullet injuries both in his right and left thighs. Mukundan was also shot at but escaped unhurt. The accused V.Pirabhakaran and Sivakumar were arrested and remanded. Both of them were proclaimed offenders of the Sri Lankan Government with a reward on their head of Rs. 5 lakhs each.
On 25th May, 1982 Uma Maheswaran was arrested near Gummidipoondi-railway station. At the time of arrest, he opened fire with his revolver and therefore another case was registered against him under the Indian Arms Act.
In the meantime, on 23rd May, 1982 Sivaneswaran alias Niranjan, an accomplice of Mukundan was also arrested at Saidapet, Madras and an unlicensed revolver seized from him. All these accused remained in Judicial custody till 5th August, 1982 when they were released by the orders of the court on conditional bail. The LTTE cadres including their leader V.Pirabhakaran had taken up residence at Mylapore Madras, while the leaders and members of the PLOTE had been staying at Saidapet, Madras.
[edit] Demise of the organisation
PLOTE lost its strength and momentum gradually due to the facist methods of the LTTE, which hunted down and killed most of its members. It also lost its strength and momentum gradually due to the increasing criminalisation of its cadres and despotic methods of Uma Maheswaran. In July 1989, Uma Maheswaran was shot dead in Colombo suspectedly due to intra-organisational differences. Others claim he was shot by the LTTE.
[edit] Current status
Currently it is functioning under the leadership of Dharmalingam Sidarthan and is a pro-government minor political party that is alleged to cooperate with the Sri Lankan military against Tamil civilains suspected to be LTTE sympathizers.
[edit] Para-military activities
Some former members of the group also function along with the Sri Lankan Army as a Para-military group in military activities against the LTTE as well of being accused of civilian murders against political opponents[1]. A prominent former PLOTE but later Para-military leader Manika Dasan was killed the LTTE in a claymore bomb attack in the town of Vavuniya.
Another dreaded paramilitary leader from the Batticlao region known simply as Plote Mohan was assassinated by LTTE assassins in Colombo in 2004.
