Joseph Pararajasingham

Joseph Pararajasingham (; 26 November 1934 – 25 December 2005) was a Sri Lankan Tamil civil servant, journalist, businessman and politician. He was Member of Parliament for Batticaloa District from 1990 to 2004 and a National List Member of Parliament from 2004 to 2005. A member of the Tamil National Alliance, he was shot dead on Christmas Day 2005 as he attended midnight mass at St. Mary's Cathedral, Batticaloa.

Early life and family Pararajasingham was born 26 November 1934 in Manipay in northern Ceylon. His family moved to Batticaloa when he was three years old. Only after entering politics did he give more emphasis to his Tamil name Pararajasingham over his Christian name Joseph. Pararajasingham was a staunch supporter of Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK), commonly known as Federal Party, and at the 1970 parliamentary election he and his wife supported ITAK candidate C. Rajadurai rather than their relative P. R. Selvanayagam who was contesting as an independent candidate. Rajadurai and Selvanayagam were both elected but soon after the election Selvanayagam started supporting the Sri Lanka Freedom Party-led government. He then worked as the Batticaloa correspondent for Independent Newspapers, writing for Dinapathi and Chinthamini. Pararajasingham was a member of TULF from the beginning and was joint secretary of its Batticaloa branch.

Pararajasingham was one of the ENDLF/EPRLF/TELO/TULF alliance's candidates in Batticaloa District at the 1989 parliamentary election but failed to get elected after coming fifth amongst the alliance candidates. However, he entered Parliament in 1990 following the assassination of Sam Tambimuttu on 7 May 1990. Batticaloa District witnessed many massacres including Kokkadichcholai and Mylanthanai. He was made leader of the TULF parliamentary group in 1994. Pararajasingham contested the 2001 parliamentary election as one of the TNA's candidates in Batticaloa District. He was elected and re-entered Parliament. He was appointed senior vice president of the TULF in June 2002. He failed to get re-elected at the 2004 parliamentary election after coming sixth amongst the TNA candidates. However, after the election he was appointed as a TNA National List MP in Parliament.

Pararajasingham and others founded NESOHR (North East Secretariat on Human Rights) on 9 July 2004. He was an executive member of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and the SAARC Parliamentary Association. Pararajasingham wanted to attend the midnight mass at St. Mary's Cathedral, Batticaloa being given by Bishop Kingsley Swampillai but a worried Sugunam suggested that they attend mass on Christmas morning. The gunmen exited the cathedral down the aisle, firing their guns into the air. An unknown group calling itself Sennan Padai (Sennan Force) claimed responsibility for the attack and ordered other TNA MPs from the Eastern Province to resign or face execution. Sennan Padai's leaflets were distributed by the Sri Lankan military. Pararajasingham was buried at the family plot in Aalaiyadicholai burial grounds, Batticaloa on 29 December 2005. In 2007 she applied for refugee status. In July 2009 an Immigration and Refugee Board hearing began and in February 2011 the adjudicator ruled that Sugunam was a "terrorist" and ordered her deportation.

Shortly after the assassination TNA MPs gave the name of the three suspected assassins, including Kaluthavalai Ravi and Kalai, to President Mahinda Rajapaksa but no action was taken against them. Two TMVP paramilitaries, Pradeep Master (Edwin Silva Krishnanandaraja) and Gajan Maamaa (Rangasami Kanaganayagam), were arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on 8 October 2015 in connection with Pararajasingham's assassination. Pillayan (S. Chandrakanthan), leader of the TMVP, was also arrested by the CID, on 11 October 2015, in connection with the assassination.

Electoral history + Electoral history of Joseph PararajasinghamElectionConstituencyPartyVotesResult 1989 parliamentary Batticaloa District TULF Not elected 1994 parliamentary Batticaloa District TULF Elected 2000 parliamentary Batticaloa District TULF Elected 2001 parliamentary Batticaloa District TNA Elected 2004 parliamentary Batticaloa District TNA Not elected