மர்ஹூம் எம்.எச்.அஸ்ரபின் பத்தாவது ஆண்டு நினைவு தினம் இன்று
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1. Early life
Ashraff was born on 23 October 1948 in the
south-eastern town of Sammanthurai in present day Ampara District. He was the grandson of
M. S. Kariapper, a leading Muslim politician. He studied at the Al
Azhar School, Fathima School and Kalmunai Wesley High School
(1961-1966). He studied at the Colombo Law College between 1969 and
1974, graduating with first class
honours. Afterwards he practiced law in Kalmunai and Batticaloa, specialising in criminal law.
Ashraff received a Bachelor's
degree and a Master's
degree (1995) in law from the University of Colombo later. He was
appointed President's Counsel in 1997.
Ashraff married Ferial in 1977. They had one son:
Aman Ashraff.
2. Sri Lanka Muslim Congress
In 1977 Ashraff and others formed the Muslim United
Liberation Front (MULF) political party to represent Sri
Lanka's Moors (Muslims). The
MULF formed an alliance with the Tamil United Liberation
Front (TULF) to contest the 1977 parliamentary
election under the TULF ticket. The MULF fielded three
candidates but all performed badly. The MULF subsequently merged
with the Sri Lanka Freedom
Party against Ashraff's wishes.
In September 1981 Ashraff and other leading Muslim
politicians established the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) at
Kattankudy. Ashraff was the SLMC's
president. The SLMC was formally inaugurated as a political party
in November 1986 at a meeting in Colombo,
Ashraff being its leader.
3. Political career
Ashraff was elected to Parliament at the 1989 parliamentary
election to represent Ampara District. He was
re-elected at the 1994 parliamentary
election. The SLMC joined the new People's Alliance
(PA) government in 1994 and Ashraff was appointed Minister of Ports
Development, Rehabilitation & Reconstruction. By 2000 relations
between the SLMC and PA had become strained and just before Ashraff
died he had decided to sever all ties with the PA.
[1]
4. Death
Ashraff was killed on 16 September 2000 when
Sri Lanka Air Force MI-17 helicopter he was traveling in crashed
into the Urakanda mountain range near Aranayake, Kegalle District under mysterious
circumstances. [2]
[3] 14 others in the helicopter were also
killed. Ashraff was buried the same day at Colombo's Jawatta
Muslim burial ground.
The government immediately ordered an inquiry into
the crash and in January 2001 President Kumaratunga appointed a
Presidential Commission to inquire into the crash.
[4] [5]
However, neither found any conclusive evidence for the crash's
cause. [6]
5. Writer
Ashraff was a writer of short stories, poems and
newspaper/magazine articles. He had a book of poems called Naan
Enum Nee published. [7] He worked as
a part-time journalist on the Thinapathy daily newspaper
whilst studying at Colombo Law College. Later he published a
left-wing magazine called
Samathuvam (Equality).
6. References
Categories: Sri Lankan politicians,
Sri Lanka Muslim
Congress politicians, Members of 9th
Parliament of Sri Lanka, Members of 10th
Parliament of Sri Lanka, 1948 births, 2000
deaths, Government ministers
of Sri Lanka, Victims
of aviation accidents or incidents in Sri Lanka, Sri Lankan writers, Sri Lankan poets, Sri Lankan journalists
The article "M. H. M.
Ashraff" is part of the Wikipedia encyclopedia. It is
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modified: 2010-06-19 04:18:40 |