Joseph Pararajasingham

Joseph Pararajasingham (Tamil: யோசப் பரராஜசிங்கம்; 26 November 1934 – 25 December 2005) was a Sri Lankan Tamil civil servant, journalist, businessman and politician. He was Member of Parliament for Batticaloa District from 1990 to 2004 and a National List Member of Parliament from 2004 to 2005. A member of the Tamil National Alliance, he was shot dead on Christmas Day 2005 as he attended midnight mass at St. Mary's Cathedral, Batticaloa.

Pararajasingham was born 26 November 1934 in Manipay in northern Ceylon. His family moved to Batticaloa when he was three years old. Pararajasingham was educated at St. Michael's College National School where he played football and basketball and was an athlete, representing the school in the high jump.

Pararajasingham married Sugunam David, whose family were originally from the Thondamanaru area of Vadamarachchi, in 1956. On their wedding day they took part in a protest against the Sinhala Only Act. Two of Sugunam's first cousins, P. R. Selvanayagam and Nimalan Soundaranayagam, were also Members of Parliament. Pararajasingham and Sugunam had three sons (Subaraj, Subakanth and Subajith) and one daughter (Subodini). Subaraj died in the 1980s, Subakanth and Subodini live in Canada and Subajith lives in the UK.

A Catholic, Pararajasingham was known as P. Joseph for most of his life. Only after entering politics did he give more emphasis to his Tamil name Pararajasingham over his Christian name Joseph.

Pararajasingham joined Batticaloa Kachcheri in the mid-1950s as a tracer in the Land Commissioner's Department. Pararajasingham was a staunch supporter of Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK), commonly known as Federal Party, and at the 1970 parliamentary election he and his wife supported ITAK candidate C. Rajadurai rather than their relative P. R. Selvanayagam who was contesting as an independent candidate. Rajadurai and Selvanayagam were both elected but soon after the election Selvanayagam started supporting the Sri Lanka Freedom Party-led government. Selvanayagam took revenge on Pararajasingham by trying to have him transferred from Batticaloa Kachcheri to Nuwara Eliya Kachcheri. Pararajasingham chose instead to retire under the provisions of the Official Languages Act.

After retirement Pararajasingham tried to operate several businesses including mineral water manufacturing and wholesale paper sales. He then became manager of the Rajeswara Theatre. He subsequently bought the Imperial Theatre and renamed it Subaraj Theatre after his late son. He also owned the Subaraj Inn tourist lodge and Subaraj Shopping Complex in Batticaloa.

Pararajasingham also worked as a freelance journalist, initially writing for the Suthanthiran owned by S. J. V. Chelvanayakam, leader of ITAK. He then worked as the Batticaloa correspondent for Independent Newspapers, writing for Dinapathi and Chinthamini. Whilst working for the government his articles were credited to his wife Sugunam Joseph but after retirement he wrote under his own name, P. Joseph. He also wrote for the Sun and the Weekend. Pararajasingham was president of the East Ceylon Journalists' Association.

Pararajasingham was an active social worker - he was secretary of the Parents' Association and the Batticaloa Red Cross Society.