PLOTE's student wing cadre wounded

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 February 1999, 19:38 GMT]
A member of the PLOTE's student organisation was shot and critically wounded by unidentified assailants in a suburb of Vavuniya tonight around 9 p.m. PLOTE sources in Vavuniya said that the youth, Christopher Chrishanthan, 17, was walking along the railway tracks towards the Vavuniya Urban Council quarters when he had been waylaid and shot.

They said the assailants of Christopher were not identified.

Sri Lankan Police sources speculated that the shooting might be linked to the vendetta between the PLOTE and TELO over the collection of money from businesses in Vavuniya.

The youth has been rushed to the Anuradhapura hospital.

Ex-militant sources said para-military organisations such as PLOTE and TELO recruit students in Vavuniya into their student wings.

The students are then provided with special identity cards stating their membership of the para-military organisation they said

Analysts suggest that the students may be paid by the para-militaries for information about other para-military groups.

A scarcity of opportunities for employment and further education in this area may have led to this phenomenon, the analysts said, adding students may go on to become fully paid up members of the para-military organisations.

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