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By
D.B.S. Jeyaraj
Commemorative Article Denoting 25th death anniversary of Muslim Congress leader MHM Ashraff on 16 September.
Mohammad Hussein Muhammad Ashraff, known to all MHM Ashraff was one of the brightest stars to shine in the Sri Lankan political firmament. Ashraff’s charisma, political acumen, dedication and sterling qualities of leadership enabled the Eastern province lawyer to be the legendary leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress(SLMC).
Sadly Ashraff’s life ended tragically when he along with 14 others, was killed in an air crash on 16 September 2000. He was the Cabinet Minister in charge of Shipping, Ports, Reconstruction and Rehabilitation in the Government of President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga at the time of his death. This week’s column with the aid of earlier writings focuses on MHM Ashraff in commemoration of his 25th death anniversary.
Ashraff was born on 23 October 1948 in the Muslim village of Sammanthurai in Amparai District. His parents were Mohammed Meera Lebbe Hussain and Matheena Ummah. He grew up in Kalmunaikkudi, in the same region.
After schooling at the Wesley High school in Kalmunai town , Ashraff entered Law College where he passed the examination with first class honours. He worked briefly as a State Counsel at the Attorney General’s Department but resigned and reverted to the unofficial bar. Ashraff went on to acquire a Bachelor’s and later a Master’s degree in Law from Colombo University. The latter feat was achieved in 1995 when he was a Cabinet Minister. He took silk in 1997 as President’s Counsel.
Ashraff married Ferial Ismail, hailing from Gampola. They first met on a train in Kurunegala where Cupid’s arrows found their mark.. After marriage , Ferial was a tower of strength to her husband in his political career. She entered active politics after his death and made history as the first Muslim woman to be a Cabinet Minister. Ferial also served as High Commissioner to Singapore. Ashraff and Ferial’s only son Aman runs his own advertising agency in Colombo.
Eastern Province
Ashraff in his heyday was acknowledged as the uncrowned king of the Eastern Muslim people. He was far ahead of his time in more ways than one. Ashraff realised the vast untapped political potential of his community and strove to charter a different political journey. The Eastern Province Muslims were to play a greater role in this project. By doing so, this historically neglected people were to achieve their rightful place under the Lankan sun.
At a time when the ethnic conflict within the island was perceived in simplistic terms as a “Sinhala versus Tamil” issue, the efforts of Ashraff brought to the fore the problems faced by Muslims. The eloquent and effective advocacy of the Muslim cause by Ashraff led to a general awareness that the seemingly intractable ethnic crisis was not merely a Sinhala-Tamil bilateral issue but a trilateral one involving Muslims too.
Eethnio-Religious Identity
The Muslims of Sri Lanka, also known as Moors, have a unique ethnio-religious identity. Constituting 9.6% of the island’s population, they are distributed somewhat evenly with about two-thirds in the seven predominantly Sinhala provinces and the rest in the Tamil majority north and east.
The bulk of the community including sections living amidst the Sinhala population speaks Tamil at home and are classified as Tamil speaking. The medium of instruction in most Muslim schools is chiefly Tamil. The community has also thrown up a number of Tamil scholars, writers, poets, journalists and artistes who have reached eminent positions.
In spite of this, the community does not perceive itself as being “Tamil” but “Muslim”. The Muslim self-perception is based on ethno-religious lines and not ethno-linguistic lines. This socio-cultural reality has acquired sharp political dimensions in recent times.
Although they are a scattered population, Sri Lankan Muslims have their single largest concentration in the Eastern Province. A large number of Muslims of the Batticaloa-Amparai Districts live interspersed among Tamil villages along the littoral areas known as “Eluvaankarai” (shore of the Rising Sun). The hinterland to the west of Batticaloa lagoon known as “Paduvaankarai” (shore of the Setting Sun) is predominantly Tamil.
The east consisting of Muslim “enclaves” with substantial Muslim votes has helped the Eastern Province Muslims to elect at least four to seven Parliamentarians from the province at each election. The eastern “bloc” has at times constituted almost 50% of the total Muslim representation in Parliament.
Despite this advantage, the overall leadership of the community was not in the hands of the eastern Muslim for many years. The comparatively advanced Muslim leaders from the Central, Western and Southern Provinces were in charge, lording it over the Muslims from the eastern backwaters. All this, however, changed with the arrival of Ashraff.
Muslim United Front
Ashraff began his political career by aligning with the Tamil United Liberation Front(TULF)while retaining a separate Muslim political identity. He formed the Muslim United Front (MUF) along with Lawyer A.M. Samsudeen of Kalmunai and signed an agreement with TULF leader Appapillai Amirthalingam. Muslim candidates were fielded on the TULF Sun symbol in Kalmunai, Sammanthurai, Puttalam and Mutur in the July 1977 elections. I first met Ashraff in 1977 when he was campaigning ardently on the TULF platform.
This was the time when Ashraff stated publicly that even if elder brother Amirthalingam could not deliver Tamil Eelam, younger brother Ashraff would do so. In spite of this affinity towards Tamil Eelam on the part of Ashraff, the eastern Muslim voters had different ideas and rejected the MUF candidates on the TULF ticket.
The electoral results showed that despite Ashraff’s desire to share a Tamil-Muslim political vision, eastern Muslims had other ideas. While the Tamil candidates of the TULF swept the polls, no Muslim from the MUF won a seat in the 1977 polls. This was an eye-opener to Ashraff.
His relations with the TULF gradually became strained. The 1981 District Development Council elections saw the TULF going to polls in Mannar and the three eastern districts on a Tamil slate of candidates. Ashraff wanted Muslims to be included too especially in the Muslim majority Amparai district. He was rebuffed. This led to an already-estranged Ashraff parting ways with the TULF completely.
However this did not result in him joining a “Sinhala-dominated” national party like other Muslim leaders of old who cut their political teeth in the ITAK/FP and then crossed over merrily after winning elections. Ashraff realised that the Muslims needed to charter a separate course independent of Tamil and Sinhala politics.
Muslim Congress
This led to his aligning with Ahammed Lebbe of Kattankudi and co-founding the Muslim Congress. The SLMC was inaugurated on 21 September 1981. At that point, the SLMC was more or less an eastern outfit concerned more with socio-cultural matters than political issues.
The escalating ethnic crisis took a new turn in 1985 with the outbreak of violence between Tamils and Muslims in the Kalmunai-Karaitheevu areas .The Kalmunai-Karaitheevu Tamil-Muslim violence of 1985 affected Ashraff directly. Ashraff was forced to flee to Colombo.
Ashraff moving to Colombo as a “political refugee” was a significant milestone in his life. In the nation’s capital, Ashraff’s political horizons began to extend beyond the east. He recognised the widespread disappointment prevalent among the Muslim masses with their elitist leaders. Ashraff identified the need and yearning of the community to assert boldly and articulate their identity.
Establishing himself firmly in Colombo Ashraff, revived and restructured the Muslim Congress. On 29 November 1986 he convened an islandwide convention in Punchi Borella and formally took over party leadership after gently easing out Ahamed Lebbe.
I was in close contact with Ashraff during the 1986-’88 period. It was then that I saw him at close quarters, forging a new vision and mission for his people. Some of his ideas and ideals seemed impossible to achieve then. Ashraff wanted the Muslims to be recognised as a separate and equal entity on par with the Sinhala and Tamil people.
The Muslim people in all parts of the country needed their own independent political party. The SLMC was to fulfil that role. Ashraff gradually redefined the objectives and redrafted the Constitution of the Muslim Congress to make it an all-island party. It was formally accredited by the Election Commissioner and allocated the symbol of the tree on 11 February 1988.
M.H.M. Ashraff gave the Muslim Congress a new sense of direction after he assumed formal leadership of the party.Thanks to Ashraff’s visionary zeal and missionary energy the SLMC achieved many, many things during the 15 years he was at the party’s helm.
The SLMC played a constructive role in the 1994 elections. The Ashraff-led SLMC acted as “Queenmaker” when Chandrika Kumaratunga became Prime minister and later President. The SLMC became part of the Govt with Ashraff as a cabinet minister.
Adaptive Flexibility
Apart from the charismatic sway Ashraff had over the Muslim masses, his strength was his adaptive flexibility. The SLMC’s fundamental demand had been for the creation of a territorially non-contiguous Muslim majority council consisting of the Muslim divisions in the north and east. Ashraff’s rationale in this issue was to preserve for the Eastern Province Muslims their 33% representation as far as possible in a proposed merger situation where it would have dwindled to 17%.
When he found the demand for a territorially non-contiguous unit unachievable, Ashraff substituted it for the South Eastern Provincial Council comprising the territorially contiguous electoral divisions of Sammanthurai, Pottuvil and Kalmunai. He was also willing to support a merger of Batticaloa and Trincomalee Districts with the Northern Province. He was prepared to give that up too if it became necessary and opt instead for a merged north-east with adequate safeguards for Muslims including a de-merger proviso by referendum in 10 years’ time.
Genuine Empathy
Ashraff had to clash with Tamil politicians in later years in the interests of his community. This was inevitable. But unlike many of the current crop of Muslim politicians from the east, Ashraff had a genuine empathy with Tamil and Tamils. He understood Tamil grievances and appreciated their aspirations.
Ashraff also felt that the fundamental problem was Sinhala majoritarianism and that some understanding among minority communities was necessary to combat it. While being firm on Muslim interests, Ashraff was always ready to work together with Tamils. There are few eastern Muslim politicos on the same wavelength as that of Ashraff on this aspect today.
While the interests of his own community were paramount for him, Ashraff was also extremely sympathetic to the Tamil problems and grievances. Except where the interests of Tamils and Muslims clashed directly, he tried to help realise the legitimate aspirations of Tamils. He also arrived at an understanding to achieve a working relationship with the Ceylon Workers’ Congress representing Tamils of Indian origin.
Tamil Ethos
Though an uncompromising Muslim nationalist in later years, Ashraff was always close to the Tamil language and its ethos. As an old student of Wesley High School in Kalmunai and as a law student he moved closely with Tamils. Despite the vagaries of politics he retained his personal friendships with Tamil classmates and colleagues.
He was also well-versed in the Tamil language and literature. Ashraff published a magazine in his younger days named ‘Samathuvam’ (Equality). He also was a freelance contributor to the Tamil daily ‘Dinapathy’.
Ashraff was a fiery orator in Tamil. Moreover he was also a poet using “Thamizh” as the vehicle of his thoughts. The volume of poetry ‘Naan Ennum Nee’ published by him was commendable though not superlative as his sycophants portrayed them to be. In any case few of the present crop of Tamil-Muslim parliamentarians read poetry let alone compose poems.
Sectarian to National
Ashraff’s greatest virtue was perhaps his metamorphosis from a “sectarian” leader to a “national” one. Ashraff addressed a gathering of the SLMC High Command and Politburo members at the Taj Samudra Hotel in 1998 and stated: “As a party representing a minority in this country, we have reached the limits of our abilities. If we are to serve the nation and its people at a greater degree, we must then, now look to expand our horizons into national politics and aim to define a role for ourselves within.”
National Unity Alliance
Ashraff formed the National Unity Alliance(NUA) and registered it as a political party on 23 August 1999. He was now prepared to look beyond Muslim ethnicity and reach out to other communities. Ashraff had a blueprint for achieving lasting peace by 2012.
While the SLMC was to be the flagship of the Muslims, the NUA was to be wider and inclusive, representing all communities. The 2000 elections saw candidates being fielded as both SLMC and NUA. One does not know what the future may have been of the SLMC and NUA, had Ashraff lived to implement his vision. Ashraff died a few weeks before the scheduled poll on 10 October 2000.
SLAF Helicopter
On that fateful morning of September 16th 2000, Ashraff boarded a Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) Mi-17 helicopter at the Police grounds in Bambalapitiya around 9:30 am. Nine SLMC party officials and three bodyguards accompanied Ashraff. There were also two crew members from the SLAF. The flight destination was Ampara.
Forty-five minutes later Air Traffic controllers lost radio contact with the helicopter being flown by squadron leader Shiran Perera. It was later discovered that the chopper had crashed over the Urakanda mountain range in the Aranayaka area in Kegalle District of Sabaragamuwa Province. Fifteen charred bodies were recovered from the burning wreckage.
Ashraff’s funeral was held late night on the same day at Colombo’s Jawatte Muslim burial ground. He had earlier told family members that he should be buried within hours of his death.
Muslim National Leader
Twenty-five years have passed since his death but there is no denying that the demise of Ashraff has created a vacuum in Muslim politics that is yet to be filled. He was the accredited and acknowledged “Muslim Thesiyath Thalaiver”(Muslim national leader) until his death. Even 25 years later the memory of Ashraff and the impact of his legacy continue to exert significant influence over the politics of Sri Lankan Muslims in general and the Muslim Congress in particular.
D.B.S.Jeyaraj can be reached at dbsjeyaraj@yahoo.com
This article appears in the “DBS Jeyaraj Column”of the “Daily Mirror”dated 15 September 2025.It can be accessed here –
https://www.dailymirror.lk/opinion/Muslim-Congress-Leader-M-H-M-Ashraff-and-the-course-of-Muslim-politics/172-319426
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