S. H. Hasbullah

Hasbullah was born on 3 September 1950 in Erukkulampiddy in northern Ceylon.[1][2] He was educated at Erukkulampiddy Central College.[3] He obtained a B.A degree from the Peradeniya campus of the University of Sri Lanka in 1975.[1][2] He also received M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of British Columbia.[1][2][4]

Hasbullah had a son and two daughters.[2]

Hasbullah was professor of geography at the University of Peradeniya.[1] He was a visiting scholar at the University of Zurich, University of Edinburgh, Norwegian University of Science and Technology and University of British Columbia (2004).[1] He was a visiting Fulbright scholar at Georgetown University's Institute for the Study of International Migration.[1][4]

Hasbullah was a resource person during the 2003 Sri Lankan peace talks facilitated by Norway in Thailand, Germany, and Japan and was member of the Sub-committee on Immediate and Humanitarian Needs of the War-torn Areas of Sri Lanka.[1] He was a UGC appointed member of the council of the University of Jaffna.[1][5] He was a member of the board of directors of the International Centre for Ethnic Studies (ICES).[6] He was a member of the 2017-18 provincial council delimitation committee.[7][8]

On 25 August 2018 Hasbullah suffered a heart attack during a meeting at the University of Jaffna and died after being admitted to Jaffna Teaching Hospital.[1][2][9] His death came the day after the delimitation committee's report was rejected by Parliament by 139 votes to nil.[10] Hasbullah had submitted an alternate report opposing the delimitation committee's report which he believed had marginalised island-wide minority representation.[11]

Hasbullah wrote several books and research papers including:

• The Fertility Behaviour of Muslims of Sri Lanka (1984, University of British Columbia)[12]
• The Growth and Variations of Rural Non-farm Activities in Sri Lanka Since Independence (1989, University of British Columbia)[13]
• Muslim Refugees, the Forgotten People in Sri Lanka's Ethnic Conflict (2001, Research and Action Forum for Social Development)
• Peace Negotiations and Social Processes in Sri Lanka (2006, Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, co-author Øivind Fuglerud)
• Sri Lankan Society in an Era of Globalization: Struggling to Create a New Social Order (2009, SAGE Publishing, co-author Barrie M. Morrison)[14]
• Checkpoint, Temple, Church and Mosque: A Collaborative Ethnography of War and Peace (2014, Pluto Press, co-authors Jonathan Goodhand, Bart Klem, Benedikt Korf, Kalinga Tudor Silva and Jonathan Spencer)[1][15]
• Denying the Right to Return: Resettlement in Musali South and the Wilpattu Controversy (2015, Kandy Forum)[1]
• Social Mobilisation of Livelihood Concerns and Everyday Encounters with an Ambiguous State (ICES, co-author Urs Geiser)[1]