Tamil diaspora leader shot in Paris

18 February 2016

The head of the Tamil Coordinating Committee (TCC) in France has been seriously injured after being shot by gunmen in a Parisian suburb on Wednesday night.

Mr Paramalingam, who heads the French Tamil diaspora group, was returning to his home on Wednesday night, when the shooting took place reports Sankathi24.

He was the victim of a stabbing attack last year, carried out by assailants though to be linked to the Sri Lankan government according to diaspora sources.

The shooting has shocked the Tamil diaspora, and bears the hallmark of the murder of Mr Paramalingam's predecessor in 2012.

Mathinthiran Nadarajah, alias Parithi was also head of the TCC and was shot dead on Thursday the 8th of November. Two men arrested in connection with the murder claimed the Sri Lankan embassy ordered the execution, according to to French newspaper le Parisien.

In 2014 the France based Tamil Media House was also forced to shut down, after an assassination attempt was made against a senior official.

Though the TCC operates legally in France and across most of Europe, the Sri Lankan government continues to ban it as a "terrorist organisation".