M. Alalasundaram

Honourable
M. Alalasundaram
MP
மு. ஆலாலசுந்தரம்
Member of the Sri Lankan Parliament
for Kopay
In office
1981–1984
Preceded by S. Kathiravelupillai
Personal details
Died 2 September 1985(1985-09-02)
Kalliyankadu, Nallur, Sri Lanka
Political party Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi
Other political
affiliations		 Tamil United Liberation Front
Profession Teacher
Ethnicity Sri Lankan Tamil

Arumugam Murugesu Alalasundaram (Tamil: முருகேசு ஆலாலசுந்தரம்) was a Sri Lankan Tamil teacher, politician and Member of Parliament.

Early life

Alalasundaram was from Nayanmarkaddu near Nallur in northern Ceylon.[1] He studied in Madras and after graduation became a teacher.[1]

Career

Alalasundaram stood as the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi's (Federal Party) candidate in Kilinochchi at the 1970 parliamentary election but was defeated by the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC) candidate V. Anandasangaree.[2]

On 14 May 1972 the ITAK, ACTC, Ceylon Workers' Congress, Eelath Thamilar Otrumai Munnani and All Ceylon Tamil Conference formed the Tamil United Front, later renamed Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF).[3][4][5][6]

In March 1981 S. Kathiravelupillai, the TULF MP for Kopay, died and Alalasundaram was nominated by the TULF as his replacement. Alalasundaram entered Parliament after being sworn in on 23 July 1981.[7] Alalasundaram and all other TULF MPs boycotted Parliament from the middle of 1983 for a number of reasons: they were under pressure from Sri Lankan Tamil militants not to stay in Parliament beyond their normal six-year term; the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka required them to swear an oath unconditionally renouncing support for a separate state; and the Black July riots in which up to 3,000 Tamils were murdered by Sinhalese mobs. After three months of absence, Alalasundaram forfeited his seat in Parliament on 5 January 1984.[8]

Many leading Tamil politicians fled to Madras but Alalasundaram was one of the few who remained in Sri Lanka. He stayed at his house near Nallur documenting the growing violence.[9] On 22 February 1983 Alalasundaram was shot and injured after a heated argument with three or four youths at his house.[10]

Assassination

On the night of 2/3 September 1985 two men went to the house of Alalasundaram at Kalliyankadu, Nallur and kidnapped him at gun point.[11] They took Alalasundaram in a car and drove to Uduvil where V. Dharmalingam, former MP for Manipay, was attending a wedding. The men then kidnapped Dharmalingam as well.[11] The next day Alalasundaram's body was found in a scrub jungle near his home at Kalliyankadu with bullet wounds in the chest and arm.[9][11] Dharmalingam's body was found at a cemetery in Thavady, Manipay, with a bullet wound in the forehead.[9][11]

No one claimed responsibility for the assassinations.[9] Dharmalingam's son Siddhartan, who is a member of the People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam militant group, blamed one of the members of Eelam National Liberation Front for the assassinations (PLOTE wasn't a member of ENLF).[11] It is widely believed that the murders were carried out by Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO), an Indian backed militant group, on the orders of the Research and Analysis Wing, the Indian intelligence agency.[11][12][13][14] Alalasundaram was close to the TELO and a relative of its leader Sri Sabaratnam.[15] It is believed that TELO chose to murder Alalasundaram at the same time as Dharmalingam so as to avoid suspicion.[15] According to Siddhartan and K. T. Rajasingham the TELO assassins had been led by Bobby but others claim that it was Das.[16][17]

However, the Sri Lankan government and other Sinhalese Buddhist nationalists have repeatedly blamed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for the assassinations.[18][19] As recently as 2013 the Sri Lankan military was falsely blaming the LTTE for the assassinations.[20]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Arumugam, S. (1997). Dictionary of Biography of the Tamils of Ceylon. p. 2.
  2. ↑ "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1970" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka.
  3. ↑ Ross, Russell R.; Savada, Andrea Matles, eds. (1990). Sri Lanka : A Country Study (PDF). Library of Congress. p. 51.
  4. ↑ Chattopadhyaya, Haraprasad (1994). Ethnic Unrest in Modern Sri Lanka: An Account of Tamil-Sinhalese Race Relations. M. D. Publications. p. 33. ISBN 81-85880-52-2.
  5. ↑ Amarasinghe, Samanga (2011). Independence to Referendum. Lulu Enterprises. p. 188. ISBN 978-1-105-01908-1.
  6. ↑ Rajasingham, K. T. "Chapter 23: Srimavo's constitutional promiscuity". Sri Lanka: The Untold Story.
  7. ↑ Rajasingham, K. T. "Chapter 27: Horsewhip Amirthalingham". Sri Lanka: The Untold Story.
  8. ↑ Wickramasinghe, Wimal (18 January 2008). "Saga of crossovers, expulsions and resignations etc. Referendum for extention [sic] of Parliament". The Island (Sri Lanka).
  9. 1 2 3 4 "Two TULF former MPs killed - thousands protest" (PDF). Tamil Times. IV (11): 6. September 1985. ISSN 0266-4488.
  10. ↑ "TULF MP Shot and Injured" (PDF). Tamil Times. II (5): 9. March 1983.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Rajasingham, K. T. "Chapter 33: India shows its hand". Sri Lanka: The Untold Story.
  12. ↑ Ferdinando, Shamindra (21 January 2008). "Political killings: from S.W.R.D to DM". The Island (Sri Lanka).
  13. ↑ Sri Kantha, Sachi (24 October 2010). "Remembering Visvanather Dharmalingam". Illankai Tamil Sangam.
  14. ↑ Sri Kantha, Sachi (29 November 2010). "More on Visvanather Dharmalingam, Amirthalingam and RAW's Invisible Hand". Illankai Tamil Sangam.
  15. 1 2 Jeyaraj, D. B. S. (16 March 2008). "Assassinating Tamil Parliamentarians: The unceasing waves". The Nation (Sri Lanka). Archived from the original on 20 February 2014.
  16. ↑ Ferdinando, Shamindra (12 June 2013). "War on terror revisited - Part 144: High profile killings after Thimpu fiasco". The Island (Sri Lanka).
  17. ↑ "Bobby recruiting Tamil youths in Tamil Nadu for a para-milit". Asian Tribune. 2 September 2005.
  18. ↑ "Atrocities by LTTE terrorists" (PDF). Sunday Observer (Sri Lanka). 31 August 2014.
  19. ↑ "The trail of terror". The Sunday Times (Sri Lanka). 24 May 2009.
  20. ↑ "Tamil Politicians - Priests - Public Officials and Academics killed by the LTTE". Ministry of Defence (Sri Lanka). 11 March 2013.
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