Joseph Pararajasingham
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Joseph Pararajasingham (November 27, 1934-December 25, 2005) was a Sri Lankan Member of Parliament and a poet who was known for his pro-Tamil Tiger views and advocacy of human rights. Pararajasingham was a founding member of the NorthEast Human Rights Secretariat NESHOR. Pararajasingham became a member of the Sri Lankan Parliament in 1990 and joined the Tamil National Alliance, a pro-rebel party.
He was assassinated in 2005 while attending a Christmas midnight mass at a church in Batticaloa, some 190 miles east of the Sri Lankan capital city of Colombo. Gunmen opened fire on Pararajasingham just after he received communion, killing him and injuring eight others, including his wife.
It is unclear who assassinated Mr. Pararajasingham, and the assassination is one of the 15 cases to be investigsated by the Commission of Inquiry into alleged serious human rights abuses warranted by President Rajapakse in September 2006, and whose investigations will be observed by an International Independent Groups of Eminent Persons (IIGEP).