M. Alalasundaram | |
|---|---|
மு. ஆலாலசுந்தரம் | |
| Member of Parliament forKopay | |
| In office 1981–1984 | |
| Preceded by | S. Kathiravelupillai |
| Personal details | |
| Died | (1985-09-02)2 September 1985 |
| 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; died in 1985) was an assassinatedSri Lankan Tamil teacher, politician andMember of Parliament.
Alalasundaram was from Nayanmarkaddu nearNallur in northernCeylon.[1] He studied inMadras and after graduation became a teacher.[1]
Alalasundaram stood as theIllankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi's (Federal Party) candidate inKilinochchi at the1970 parliamentary election but was defeated by theAll Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC) candidateV. Anandasangaree.[2]
On 14 May 1972 the ITAK, ACTC,Ceylon Workers' Congress, Eelath Thamilar Otrumai Munnani and All Ceylon Tamil Conference formed theTamil United Front, later renamedTamil United Liberation Front (TULF).[3][4][5][6]
In March 1981S. Kathiravelupillai, the TULF MP forKopay, died and Alalasundaram was nominated by the TULF as his replacement. Alalasundaram enteredParliament 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 fromSri Lankan Tamil militants not to stay in Parliament beyond their normal six-year term; the Sixth Amendment to theConstitution of Sri Lanka required them to swear an oath unconditionally renouncing support for aseparate state; and theBlack July riots in which up to 3,000 Tamils were murdered bySinhalese 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 pro-LTTE youths at his house.[10]
On 1 September 1985 two men abducted Alalasundaram at gunpoint from his house at Kalliyankadu, Nallur.[11] They took Alalasundaram in a car and drove toUduvil whereV. Dharmalingam, former MP forManipay, 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 inThavady,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 thePeople's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam militant group, blamed one of the members ofEelam National Liberation Front for the assassinations (PLOTE wasn't a member of ENLF).[11] It is widely believed that the murders were carried out byTamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO), an Indian backed militant group, on the orders of theResearch and Analysis Wing, the Indian intelligence agency.[11][12][13][14] Alalasundaram was close to the TELO and a relative of its leaderSri 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, theSri Lankan government andSinhalese Buddhist nationalists have repeatedly blamed theLiberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for the assassinations.[18][19] As recently as 2013 theSri Lankan military was blaming the LTTE for the assassinations.[20]
