Assassinated politicians

The Tamil National Alliance Member of Parliament Joseph Pararajasingam was a great man, a great friend of mine. I still remember him for his smiling face, for his jokes, his character….He never missed an opportunity to explain his conviction to his goal. He was a staunch supporter of Tamil Eelam. He was very liberal, even in his writings. I remember him for his convictions. For his political argument...He was very much determined to explain the situation in Sri Lanka...

When I wanted to start a body of human rights in Vanni, first to my mind came Mr. Pararajasingam. I phone him and he immediately consented to come to Vanni. He fully agreed, consented and supported the Human Rights Secretariat in Vanni, and he became the co-founder of the North East Secretariat on Human Rights….He was always very ready and available to take up any issues regarding human rights violations to the state, to any authority, to anybody. He did that of course...

All meetings he attended with me benefited from his talk and discussion. He was like an encyclopedia. He was a very good parliamentarian, a great politician, and a great representative of Batticaloa. He lived by his convictions...

He was brutally murdered by the paramilitaries with the help and support of the Sri Lankan Army. He was shot in front of bishops and a large congregation. There were security forces and Army forces, and he was shot in cold blood. He shed his blood for the cause of human rights. For the rights of the Tamil people, for the Tamil cause, but no security officer has attempted to do anything to catch the people who came into this sanctuary to commit this crime...

This is the government we have in Sri Lanka. These are the governments we’ve had in Sri Lanka since 1948. Any Tamil, any politician, any democrat, any journalist, any priest involve din human rights or humanitarian work can be murdered and nothing will be done. The courts, the law in Sri Lanka is that.

That’s why I don’t believe the representation of the Sri Lankan Parliament. For over sixteen years, Tamil politicians go to Parliament and achieve nothing….If there are any speeches in Parliament regarding the Tamil community, their rights, the Tamil homeland, the Parliament and government never listens to Tamil politicians. They simply ridicule or suppress or eliminate the representative...

No one respects human rights issues. People are tortured, murdered, arrested, tortured, missing. The human rights situation worsens every day in Sri Lanka in Army-controlled areas.

-Father MX Karunaratnam Adihalar, 49 years