Mr. Joseph Pararajasingam speaking on Human Rights Day 2005
25 December 2005
We have lost Joseph Pararajasingam, our valued member.
Mr. Joseph Pararajasingam was shot dead on the Christmas Eve of 2005. He was murdered for the sole reason that he highlighted the human rights situation of the Tamil people.
Mr. Pararajasingam was shot inside the Cathedral in Batticaloa town that was crowded with people attending the Christmas mass presided by the Bishop of Batticaloa, Kingsley Swampillai. Mr Pararajasingam's wife, Mrs. P Sugunam, who was beside him, was critically wounded when she tried to protect him from the bullets.
Mr. Joseph Pararajasingam speaking on Human Rights Day 2005
Mr. Joseph Pararajasingam is the second valued NESOHR member shot dead within the span of one year. The loss to NESOHR is truly shattering. NESOHR member for Amparai, Mr. A Chandra Nehru was shot dead in February this year.
In his parliamentarian life, Mr. Pararajasingam, documented human rights violations in eastern Sri Lanka during the 1990's and brought these abuses to the attention of the international community. He persistently challenged the Sri Lankan government on its human rights record. The Sri Lankan parliamentary record, the "Hansard", contains ample evidence of his brave challenges to the Sri Lankan state on its human rights abuses. He traveled the world as a member of parliament, representing the Tamils, to meet foreign ministers and foreign affairs officials and brought the human rights situation in the Northeast to their attention.
 Mr. Joseph Pararajasingam (right) with NESOHR Chairperson Fr. M. X. Karunaratnam |
In his last visit to NESOHR in Kilinochchi to mark International Human Rights Day on December 10th 2005, Mr. Pararajasingam told the other members of NESOHR that he had decided to station himself in Batticaloa from now on and to take up the human rights issues in his district. He told us that he was ready to take any risks that this move would entail.
NESOHR, in its one and a half years of operation, has served the people of the Northeast by addressing their human rights violations with local and regional authorities and also by bringing human rights violations to the attention of the international community.
We have received encouraging support from the international community for our work and we were urged by the international community to also open an office in Batticaloa-Amparai. It is a huge loss to NESOHR and to the people of Batticaloa-Amparai to have our two members from the region shot dead within the span of one year.
A land where human rights defenders' lives can be taken away so cheaply is a damned land. It is also a damning indictment on those who are charged with the responsibility of protecting the lives of those courageous defenders. We urge the international human rights community to focus their attention on this corrosive situation in the Northeast by taking stock of the true basic causes for this situation.
Fr. M. X. Karunaratnam, Chairperson
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