M. H. M. Ashraff

Mohammed Hussain Mohammed Ashraff was a Sri Lankan politician and founder/leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress political party.

Early life

Ashraff was born on 23 October 1948 in the south-eastern town of Sammanthurai in present day Ampara District. He was the son of Mohammed Meera Lebbe Hussain, a village headman, and Matheena Ummah.^[1] He was a member of the powerful Kariapper family of Kalmunai. He studied at the Al Azhar School, Carmel fatima college national 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 practised 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.

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.

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.^[2]

Death

Ashraff was killed on 16 September 2000 when Sri Lanka Air Force MI-17 helicopter he was travelling in crashed into the Urakanda mountain range near Aranayake, Kegalle District under mysterious circumstances.^[3][4] 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.^[5][6] However, neither found any conclusive evidence for the crash's cause.^[7]

Writer

Ashraff was a writer of short stories, poems and newspaper/magazine articles. He had a book of poems called Naan Enum Nee published.^[8] 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).

References

• "Founder Leader Marhoom M H M Ashraff – His Life and His Mission". Sri Lanka Muslim Congress. 
• DBS Jeyaraj (30 September 2000). "A pioneering leader". Frontline 17 (20). 
• "Senior Sri Lankan Minister killed in helicopter crash". TamilNet. 16 September 2000. 
• M.H.M. Salman. "Tribute to M.H.M. Ashraff". Peace Secretariat for Muslims.