- Sri Lanka Military shows its Hand in the Murder of Joseph
Pararajasingham
News Watch, 31 December 2005
[see also
Joseph Pararajasingham - One Hundred Tamils of the 20th Century]
The Press Release of the Joint Operations Command of the Sri
Lanka Armed Forces, serves to establish the complicity of the
Sri Lanka military in the assassination of Joseph
Pararajasingham. The Sri Lanka Defence Ministry claimed on
Sunday, 25 December 2005, in a two-page statement -
" Press Release (05/12) Joint Operations Headquarters
25 December 2005 at 11.30 Hours
http://www.army.lk/press_release/2005/12/25_1130.htm
Tamil National Alliance Member of Parliament Gunned Down
by LTTE Pistol Men during Midnight Christmas Prayers
Tamil National Alliance (TNA), Member of Parliament (MP) for
Batticaloa district Mr Joesph Pararajasingham (71) was brutally
gunned down by LTTE (Tamil Tigers) pistol men inside St Mary’s
Cathedral in Batticaloa town around 1.10 a.m. on Sunday (25)
early morning while he was attending the midnight Christmas
service along with hundreds of fellow-Christians.
Hon. MP Joseph Pararajasingham died on the spot and firing
caused severe injuries to Parliamentarian’s wife, Mrs Sugunam
Pararajasingham (70) and seven other civilians who have been now
admitted to hospital. Sister Sajadah (22), Mrs A. Mary Ferif
(92), Mrs Jeyaraj(40), Mrs Sisiliya (64), Mrs R. Manmohan (38),
Miss Lakshman Muthulingam (13) and Mr P. David (27), injured in
the melee that ensued are receiving medical treatment.
Hundreds of Christians were attending the midnight
Christmas service at this reputed church when the LTTE
pistol men, mingled together with devotees inside, carried
out this inhuman assassination, regardless of the religious
importance of the occasion.
Reliable reports further confirmed that Mr Pararajasingham
has had no plans to attend the mass but a telephone caller at
about 10.00 p.m. on Saturday (24) had insisted his presence at
late night service.
Hon. Joseph Pararajasingham (MP) has been provided an armed
escort, including policemen from the Ministerial Security
Division (MSD). Three members of the Police armed escort were
providing security to the Parliamentarian at the time of the
incident, according to Batticaloa Police station.
The media, as recent as last 15th October 2005 exposed an
alleged LTTE (Tamil Tigers) plot to assassinate two leading
Tamil politicians in the east during an LTTE event in
Trincomalee and blame the Armed Forces for the slaying.
The LTTE, closely judged by the series of criminal acts being
perpetrated in the northeast in recent few days, it appears that
they (Tamil Tigers) were desperately trying to divert the
attention elsewhere and create mayhem and havoc while
eschewing political discussions.
The Batticaloa Police investigations are in progress. The Sri
Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) is to be informed..."
The JOC Statement was duly picked up by news agencies and spread
around the world with headlines such as 'Sri
Lanka military blames LTTE for Tamil legislator killing' from
News Kerala and 'Tigers assassinated Tamil MP: Sri Lanka
Govt' with the byeline 'Tamil Tiger rebels gunned down minority
Tamil legislator Joseph Pararajasingham in eastern Sri Lanka in a
bid to divert attention from the violence-hit north'
from Sify News.
The Sinhala owned Sri Lanka
Island headlined its story on 26 December 2005
TULF veteran assassinated at Christmas mass - First entered
parliament after Tigers killed Sam Tambimuttu in 1990. The
reference to Joseph Pararajasingham as a 'TULF veteran' instead of
'Tamil National Alliance MP' suggested to the reader that the
murder was that of a member of the TULF which was collaborating with
the Sri Lanka government. This suggestion was then reinforced with
the linkage to the killing of Sam Tambimuttu who had, in fact
collaborated with the Sri Lanka government in the period leading to
his death.
BBC adopted the so called 'even handed' approach
and carried the headline
Tamil murder sparks accusations and reported "Sri Lanka's
government and rebel Tamil Tigers have blamed each other for the
murder of a Tamil member of parliament while he attended a Christmas
Mass". Newind Press followed the BBC line and reported
MP shot dead in Christmas; Lankan govt, rebels trade accusations.
The Press Trust of India followed suit
with the story line - "Lankan MP shot dead -
A Tamil lawmaker was shot dead while
attending a Christmas mass in Sri Lanka, leading the government and
the Tiger rebels to trade accusations."
But what were the facts?
P.K.Balachandran (who is no friend of the Struggle for Tamil
Eelam) reported in the
Hindustan Times on 25 December 2005 under the heading 'Pro LTTE
MP shot dead' -
"Pararajasingham, one of the leading lights in Batticaloa
district, had staunchly stood by the mainstream LTTE led by
Velupillai Prabhakaran when the latter's Batticaloa-based
military commander Col Karuna broke away and formed a rival
faction in March 2004. Pararajasingham disapproved of Karuna's
bid to promote "Eastern regionalism", on the grounds that it
would weaken the unity of the Tamils of the East and the North,
and jeopardise the Tamils' struggle for autonomy in Sri Lanka.
He was perhaps the only leading Tamil politician in the
Batticaloa-Amparai area to have openly defied Karuna at the
height of the latter's power as a breakaway Tiger leader in
March-April 2004. Others had jumped on to the Karuna bandwagon,
thinking that he was there to stay and invincible given his past
military exploits. Karuna kept Pararajasingham virtually
under house arrest during the March-April Sri Lankan
parliamentary elections. He could not campaign in the
elections....Pararajasingham became a nominated TNA MP under the
National List. The LTTE included him in its human rights
organization also.
Pararajasingham's killing is a major blow for the LTTE, as he
was the most mature and capable Tamil leader in the
Batticaloa-Amparai region. Other leaders of the TNA there, were
much junior and less popular too. Given his command over the
English language, he was an asset when the TNA/LTTE had to
interact with the international community and foreign
diplomats..."
Velupillai Pirabakaran conferred the title of
Mamanithar on Joseph Pararajasingham and declared -
"The Tamil Nation has lost today a
noble man who sacrificed personal ambitions and set a goal
working resolutely for the welfare of his people. Silenced today
is a voice that relentlessly resonated the freedom of the Tamil
homeland and its people. A great man had fallen victim to the
enemy's cowardly act of cruelty. It is a great tragedy in the
history of the Tamil Eelam freedom struggle..."
But the JOC would have its audience believe that the 'LTTE
pistol men' carried out the assassination. The reason given is that
because of 'the series of criminal acts being perpetrated in the
northeast in recent few days' the 'LTTE was desperately trying
to divert the attention elsewhere'. But what were the events in the
northeast from which the LTTE was trying to divert attention? The
recent events in the Northeast were the rape and murder of
Ilayathamby Tharshini
by Sri Lanka navy personnel in Punguduthivu and the
Sri Lanka troops opening fire on a demonstration in Jaffna.
Reason suggests that if anyone was concerned to divert attention
from these events, it would have been the Sri Lanka military itself.
It appears that the JOC may have made a Freudian slip.
But then again, it may be that the JOC was simply using the
technique of the big lie that was perfected by Hitler and Goebbels
many decades ago -
"...in
the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility;
because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily
corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than
consciously or voluntarily, and thus in the primitive simplicity
of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie
than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies
in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale
falsehoods. It would never come into their heads to fabricate
colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could
have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Even
though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought
clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will
continue to think that there may be some other explanation. For
the grossly impudent lie always leaves traces behind it, even
after it has been nailed down, a fact which is known to all
expert liars in this world and to all who conspire together in
the art of lying. These people know only too well how to use
falsehood for the basest purposes..."
The grossly impudent lie always leaves traces behind it, even
after it has been nailed down, 'a fact which is known to all expert
liars in this world and to all who conspire together in the art of
lying'. The Joint Operations Command of the Sri Lanka armed
forces has
once again demonstrated its expertise in dissimulation and
disinformation. It knows that the grossly impudent lie will leave
traces behind even after it is nailed down. The 'even handed'
approach of the BBC is one result - "Sri Lanka's government and
rebel Tamil Tigers have blamed each other for the murder".
But those who are not beguiled by the so called 'even handed'
approach, will insist on asking the question: why did the Joint
Operations Command lie about the identity of the killers of
Pararajasingham? Organisations (like individuals) lie when
they have something to hide. What was it that the JOC sought to
hide? It sought to hide the identity of the true killers. It
sought to hide the identity of the true killers because it was
itself complicit in the assassination of Joseph
Pararajasingham - an assassination directed to terrorise the Tamils
in Batticaloa from supporting the cause for which
Joseph Pararajasingham had toiled fearlessly and steadfastly for
many decades. It was an act of state terror directed against an
opposition Member of the Sri Lanka Parliament.
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