Lalith William Samarasekera Athulathmudali , PC (Sinhala: ??????????????; November 26, 1936 - April 23, 1993), known as Lalith Athulathmudali , is a Sri Lankan statesman. He is a prominent member of the United National Party, serving as Minister of Trade and Shipping; Minister of National Security and Deputy Minister of Defense; Minister of Agriculture, Food and Cooperatives and finally the Minister of Education. After impeachment failed President Premadasa, he was expelled from UNP and formed his own party.
Video Lalith Athulathmudali
Early life and education
Born to a family of lawyers from Kaluthara, his father D. D. Athulathmudali is a member of the State Council of Ceylon and his mother is Dona Elisiyana (Elisa) Perera nÃÆ' Â © e Weerasinha. He has two siblings, Dayantha's brother who became engineer and sister of Sujae who became a doctor.
Athulathmudali received his primary education at Ladies' College, at St. John's College Panadura and Royal Primary School; before moving to Royal College Colombo from 1948 to 1955 for his secondary education, where he won a Trainer Award and excelled in athletics.
He then went on to read jurisprudence at Jesus College, Oxford from 1955 to 1958. He graduated with a BA in 1958 and continued his post-graduate studies at Oxford. In 1959, his father died and he had to return for lack of funds. S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike upon hearing his case, gave him a Ceylon Government scholarship. He obtained the BCL and MA in 1960 from Oxford winning the Sanky God Prize in 1959. While in Oxford, Athulathmudali joined the Oxford Union, served as Secretary (1956), Treasurer (1957) and became the first Sri Lankan who became President in 1958 In 1962, he entered Harvard Law School on a scholarship and graduated from Harvard University with LLM in 1963. He exhibited Sinhalese, England, Tamil, German and French.
Maps Lalith Athulathmudali
Academic and legal career
Athulathmudali was accepted in the bar as Barrister to the Grays Inn in 1959. From 1960 to 1962 he served as a law professor at the University of Singapore. In 1963 he became Dean of Associate of law faculty of the University of Singapore. From 1960 to 1964 he has served as guest lecturer at Hebrew University in Israel, Edinburgh University and Allahabad University. Returning to Ceylon in 1964, he took an oath as an Advocate and began his legal practice. From 1967 to 1974, he was enrolled in jurisprudence at Ceylon Law College. In 1985 he was appointed Presidential Advisor.
Political career
Trade and Shipping Minister
Lalith Athulathmudali entered the political world in the early 1970s. He joined the policy committee of the United National Party's policy plan in 1973. He opposed the 1977 elections of Ratmalana voters and was elected to Parliament. J.R. Jayewardene appointed him to the cabinet as Minister of Commerce. In 1978, he received an additional portfolio of shipments, as Minister of Commerce and Shipping, which he held until 1984. During this time, as Minister of Commerce, he introduced Intellectual Property Law; established the Sri Lanka Export Development Board and the Port Authority. He founded the Mahapola Trust Fund in 1981 to provide financial assistance to students undertaking higher education.
Minister of National Security
In 1984, he was appointed Minister of National Security and Deputy Minister of Defense. He started reforms in both the police and the army. During his tenure, the armed forces were repatriated and reprocessed, with the army increasing from 6,000 to 24,000. The most controversial action is to ask Israel for help. He organized several attacks on territories held by the LTTE including Operation Vadamarachchi and was appointed to the Indo-Sri Lanka Treaty.
He was seriously injured in an attack within the Parliament complex in 1987. The biggest chaos in his political career occurred in May 1988 when he announced a ceasefire with the JVP rebellion. The main broker called the ceasefire was a lawyer named Kelly Senanayake and Fr Thissa Balasooriya who was later found to have no mandate to represent the JVP. He received his Trade and Delivery portfolio again in 1988. His status in government changed in Jayewardene's retirement in 1988, he tried to win a UNP nomination for presidential elections, but was defeated by Ranasinghe Premadasa who later won the presidency.
Minister of Agriculture and Education
In 1989, he was appointed chairman of the UNP organizer to voters in Colombo and elected to parliament in the 1989 general election. Premadasa defended Athulathmudali in his cabinet, but lowered him by appointing him as Minister of Agriculture, Food and Cooperatives. The following year, he was appointed Minister of Education, where his capacity remained until 1991.
Conflicts with Premadasa
Athulathmudali became disillusioned with Premadasa's leadership. Soon Athulathmudali was in conflict with Premadasa. Premadasa is trying to get Athulathmudali out of his UNP party position. He was accused by Premadasa as one of the cabinet ministers behind the Burning of Jaffna library in 1981. Athulathmudali resigned from his cabinet post in August 1991 and in September 1991 he and several UNP lawmakers filed a motion to indict Premadasa. The impeachment supported by UNP members and other parties in the opposition failed because Premadasa delayed Parliament and Chairman Mohamed dismissed impeachment stating the lack of a signature. Premadasa expelled Athulathmudali and Gamini Dissanayake from UNP.
Athulathmudali together with Dissanayake formed a new party, the United Democratic National Front with both serving as joint presidents in November 1991. Under the DUNF, Athulathmudali submitted his paper for the 1993 provincial election which sought the main leadership of the Western Provincial Council.
Murder
Athulathmudali was killed when he was shot by an armed man on April 23, 1993 after an election general meeting in Kirulapana. Initially, the government blamed the LTTE and produced a body of Tamil youth named Ragunathan who was found near the site of the shooting the next day. He apparently died for taking cyanide capsules. However, these claims later proved false.
A Presidential Commission conducted by the Government of Sri Lanka concluded that Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa was directly responsible for the killing. It was also concluded that the young Tamil Ragunathan, killed by the same man who killed Athulathmudali, forcibly gave him cyanide.
Family
Lalith Athulathmudali met his future wife Srimani De Seram in March 1978 when he joined UNCTAD in Switzerland. He is a friend of his sister Dayantha Athulathmudali. After a romance that lasted several years, they married in December 1981 in Geneva. They have one daughter, Serela Athulathmudali.
Legacy
Athulathmudali is considered one of the most prominent Sri Lankan statesmen in recent history. He is still remembered by many in Sri Lanka as a gentleman and as one of the few well-educated politicians of the time. In his honor a statue and memorial has been set up in Colombo. His contribution to state education is excellence, his Mahapola Fund has greatly contributed to the development of higher education and provides scholarships for students in need each year. The Lalith Athulathmudali Auditorium at the Sri Lankan Institute of Information Technology and the Lalith Athulathmudali Memorial Prize, one of the prestigious prizes awarded annually at Royal College, Colombo (alma mater)) for the Most Royalist Leading (College of College Students) of the Year) is named in his honor.
See also
- The murder of Lalith Athulathmudali
- List of political families in Sri Lanka
- The real killing of the Civil War of Sri Lanka
- Sri Lankan Civil War
- Ranasinghe Premadasa
References
External links
- The Athulathmudali Ancestry
- Articles for Lalith Athulathmudali about Sadaharita Official Website of United National Party
- Sri Lanka: Undisclosed Story
- Obituary at Liberal International
- the symbol of Lalith Athulathmudali from a pragmatic politician
- He shared his views but never intervened in military affairs
- Athulathmudali memorial lecture by Anura Banciousaike
- We must not surrender to oppose the LTTE '
- It's time to revisit the Athulathmudali approach
- Recent pioneers
- Lalith Athulathmudali in Sinhala
- Lalith Athulathmudali in Sinhala
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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