Sri Lanka Military shows its Hand in the Murder of Joseph Pararajasingham

Sri Lanka Military shows its Hand in the Murder of Joseph Pararajasingham
News Watch, 31 December 2005

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
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.

INDICTMENT AGAINST SRI LANKA