Kadirgamapillai (Kathirkamar) Nallainathan (; 18 February 1945 – 16 July 1989; commonly known by the

nom de guerre A ''nom de guerre'' (, 'war name') is a pseudonym chosen by someone to use when they are involved in a particular activity, especially fighting in a war. In Ancien régime, ''ancien régime'' Kingdom of France, France it would be adopted by each n ...

Uma Maheswaran) was a

Sri Lankan Tamil Sri Lankan Tamils ( or ), also known as Ceylon Tamils or Eelam Tamils, are Tamils native to the South Asian island state of Sri Lanka. Today, they constitute a majority in the Northern Province, form the plurality in the Eastern Province a ...

rebel and the founder and leader of the People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE), a separatist Tamil militant organisation in

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

Early life

Maheswaran was born on 18 February 1945 and was from Varuthalaivilan near Tellippalai in northern

. He worked for the government as a surveyor.

LTTE

Maheswaran joined the militant

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; , ; also known as the Tamil Tigers) was a Tamil militant organization, that was based in the northern and eastern Sri Lanka. The LTTE fought to create an independent Tamil state called Tamil Eela ...

(LTTE) in 1977. The LTTE gave him the

Mukundan. He was chairman of the LTTE's central committee from 1977 to 1980. He received military training in

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

and

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

. Maheswaran and LTTE leader V. Prabhakaran were blamed for the shooting of MP M. Canagaratnam on 24 January 1978. In 1982 A Sri Lankan court sentenced Maheswaran, in absentia, to 15 years rigorous imprisonment for the attempted murder. Maheswaran fell out with Prabhakaran and left the organisation in 1980.

PLOTE

After leaving the LTTE, Maheswaran founded his own militant group, the People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE). On the night of 19 May 1982, Maheswaran and fellow PLOTE members Jotheeswaran and Sivaneswaran (Nirnajan) were involved in a

shootout A shootout, also called a firefight, gunfight, or gun battle, is a confrontation in which parties armed with firearms exchange gunfire. The term can be used to describe any such fight, though it is typically used in a non-military context or to ...

with Prabhakaran and Raghavan (Sivakumar) of the LTTE at the Pondy bazaar in Thiyagarayanagar,

Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. Jotheeswaran was injured and hospitalised but Maheswaran and Sivaneswaran escaped. Maheswaran was arrested near Gummidipoondi railway station on 25 May 1982 after a shoot out with the police but was later released on

bail Bail is a set of pre-trial restrictions that are imposed on a suspect to ensure that they will not hamper the judicial process. Court bail may be offered to secure the conditional release of a defendant with the promise to appear in court when ...

. Maheswaran and the PLOTE would continue to carry out bank robberies and kidnappings to finance their activities. Maheswaran's actions eventually led to divisions within the PLOTE, resulting in a number of defections and splinter groups to be formed, including the

Eelam National Democratic Liberation Front The Eelam National Democratic Liberation Front (ENDLF) was a former Indian backed Tamil militant group in Sri Lanka. It was formed in 1987 as an amalgamation of splinter groups from other militant groups ( Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation ...

(ENDLF). Maheswaran was known to deal with

dissent Dissent is an opinion, philosophy or sentiment of non-agreement or opposition to a prevailing idea or policy enforced under the authority of a government, political party or other entity or individual. A dissenting person may be referred to as ...

very harshly, and is alleged to have carried out 38 murders. Maheswaran was involved in the failed 1988 Maldives Coup. On 16 July 1989, Maheswaran was abducted by six men in

Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...

. His bullet ridden body was later found at Frankfurt Place,

Bambalapitiya Bambalapitiya is a southern coastal neighbourhood of Colombo, Sri Lanka. The area also known as Colombo 4, spans about along Galle Road. The western boundary of the suburb is the Indian Ocean and it is bordered to the east by Havelock Town, t ...

, near the Maldivian High Commission. The ENDLF, an Indian-backed offshoot of PLOTE, claimed responsibility for the

assassination Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives. Assassinations are orde ...

, however some sources blamed the assassination on dissenting members of the PLOTE itself.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Uma Maheswaran 1945 births 1989 deaths Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam members People from Northern Province, Sri Lanka People from British Ceylon People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam militants People killed during the Sri Lankan civil war Sri Lankan Tamil rebels Sri Lankan Tamil people Sri Lankan surveyors Indian Peace Keeping Force