Alfred Duraiappah

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Alfred Duraiappah (died 27 July 1975) was a former MP and mayor of Jaffna, Sri Lanka who was assassinated, reputedly by Velupillai Prabhakaran, the leader of the LTTE.

1 First political murder
2 Revenge Killing?
3 His tenure and Jaffna prosperity
4 Reference
5 External links

[edit] First political murder

Alfred Duraiappah was a former MP and mayor of Jaffna, Sri Lanka, whose assassination by the LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran in July 1975 is considered a seminal event marking the onset the Sri Lankan civil war. Duraiappah was killed on his way to a Hindu temple for prayers, although he himself was a 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.