Seyed Ali Zahir Moulana

The Honourable
Seyed Ali Zahir Moulana
MP
සේයෙඩ් අලි සාහිර් මෞලාන
அலி சாஹிர் மௌலானா
State Minister of Social Empowerment
In office
21 December 2018 – 18 November 2019
PresidentMaithripala Sirisena
Prime MinisterRanil Wickremesinghe
Deputy Minister of National Integration, Reconciliation & Official Languages
In office
2 May 2018 – 21 December 2018
PresidentMaithripala Sirisena
Prime MinisterRanil Wickremesinghe
Member of Parliament of Sri Lanka for Batticaloa District
Incumbent
Assumed office
11 October 2023
Preceded byAhamed Nazeer Zainulabdeen
In office
17 August 2015 – 3 January 2020
In office
16 August 1994 – 23 July 2004
Member of Eastern Provincial Council
In office
6 February 2015 – 17 August 2015
Chairman of Eravur Urban Council
In office
17 March 2011 – 6 February 2015
In office
12 March 1994 – 16 August 1994
Minister of Economic Affairs, Embassy of Sri Lanka in Washington, D.C.
In office
6 December 2007 – 15 December 2009
Personal details
Born (1956-06-25) June 25, 1956 (age 68)
Eravur, Dominion of Ceylon
NationalitySri Lankan
Political partySri Lanka Freedom Party
United National Party
Sri Lanka Muslim Congress
Other political
affiliations		United People's Freedom Alliance
United National Front for Good Governance
Residence(s)Batticaloa, Sri Lanka
Alma materAligarh Central College

St. Michael's College

University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
OccupationPolitician
ProfessionSoftware Engineer

Seyed Ali Zahir Moulana (born 25 June 1956) is a Sri Lankan politician, former diplomat and local government activist. He is most known for the pivotal and important role he played in bringing about an end to the Sri Lankan Civil War.[1]

He has been politically active since 1988, and is the current Member of Parliament for the Batticaloa District, the only directly elected Sri Lanka Muslim Congress Parliamentarian in the current Parliament of Sri Lanka.[2] He is the State Minister of Social Empowerment, appointed by President Maithripala Sirisena on 21 December 2018.

He was previously elected as a Member of Parliament for the Batticaloa District, under the United National Party from August 16, 1994, until his resignation on June 23, 2004.[3]

Moulana is most noted for his orchestration of the defection of prominent members of the LTTE guerrilla group, including its one-time Military Commander Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan (Colonel Karuna), from the militant group to the government in 2004.[4] He resigned his seat in Parliament shortly thereafter due to the rising threat on his life from the LTTE. Moulana thereafter was appointed as a high-ranking diplomat at the Embassy of Sri Lanka to the United States.,[5] and upon his return to Sri Lanka in 2010, he resumed his political career by being elected as the Mayor of Eravur, and thereafter as a Member of the Eastern Provincial Council [6] and held that position until his re-election to Parliament in August 2015.

He served as Minister of State for Primary Industries and Social Empowerment in the Maithripala Sirisena government from 2015 to 2019.

  1. ^ "Features | Sundayobserver.lk – Sri Lanka". www.sundayobserver.lk. Archived from the original on 2020-05-10. Retrieved 2015-09-27.
  2. ^ "Ranil to return as Prime Minister". The Hindu. 2015-08-18. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2015-09-27.
  3. ^ "Ali Zahir Moulana's resignation letter shedding more lights on Karuna's episode | Asian Tribune". asiantribune.com. Retrieved 2015-09-27.
  4. ^ Jayasuriya, Ranga (27 June 2004). "The Karuna affaire". The Sunday Observer. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 4 September 2013.
  5. ^ "Diplomatic Traffic". www.diplomatictraffic.com. Retrieved 2015-09-27.
  6. ^ "Ali Zahir Moulana sworn in as EP Councilor |". tamildiplomat.com. Retrieved 2015-09-27.