Alfred Duraiappah

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).

Alfred Duraiappah (died 27 July 1975) was a former MP and mayor of Jaffna, Sri Lanka, whose murder by the LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran marked the beginning of violent phase of the Sri Lankan civil war.

Contents

[edit] First political murder

Alfred Duriappah was a former MP and mayor of Jaffna, Sri Lanka, whose assassination by the LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran in July 1975 marks the beginning of violent phase of the Sri Lankan civil war. He was killed on his way to a Hindu temple for prayers. This is in spite of him being a Tamil Christian. Pro-LTTE sources[1] and human rights groups [2] confirm that LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran killed Alfred Duraiappah although the murder was not prosecuted by law enforcement agencies.[citation needed]

[edit] Revenge Killing?

His murder came about as a revenge due to the killing of 9 (see 1974 Tamil conference incident) Tamil civilians by the Sri Lankan police. The killings happened during an international conference on Tamil language that took place in Jaffna. It was alleged that the organizers who were Tamil nationalists as opposed to Alfred Duriappah who was aligned to the Sri Lankan Sinhalese nationalistic Party the SLFP shunned him in the proceedings. This alleged insult led to police intervention in some pretext that lead to the civilian deaths.

[edit] His tenure and Jaffna prosperity

Nevertheless his tenure as the Mayor of a long neglected city saw it endowed with funds for development from the government in Colombo. Roads were paved, stadiums built and jobs were provided to youth. His period of office also saw the general prosperity of the Jaffna farmer who were the back bone of the society as the prices of onions, chilies and other native produce sky rocketed due to the adherence a planned socialist economy by Colombo banned the importation of these items from abroad.

[edit] Not the last political killing

What began as a single act of political murder has during the last 20 years turned into the death of over 5,000 (est.) or more Tamils in revenge killings by various militant groups including the LTTE. In 2005 alone over 200 (est.) Tamil civilians were killed by various actors in Sri Lanka.

[edit] External links


This Sri Lankan biographical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../a/l/f/Alfred_Duraiappah_abfe.html"