At the time of her assassination, Rajani was head of the Department of Anatomy at the University of Jaffna. There, she and some of her colleagues founded the Jaffna branch of the University Teachers for Human Rights (UTHR), which documented the human rights violations committed by the LTTE, the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) and the Sri Lankan government forces on the Tamil civilian population in Jaffna. Rajani co-authored the seminal book, The Broken Palmyra, which documents the violence in Jaffna during the 1980s. Weeks after its publication, Rajini was shot dead in front of her house in at Thirunelvely, Jaffna while cycling back from work.

Sources
Dr. Rajani Thiranagama: Her contribution to the University Teachers for Human Rights (U.T.H.R.), Rajan Hoole, 2 October 1989; No More Tears Sister: An Anatomy of Hope and Betrayal, directed by Helen Klodawsky, produced by the National Film Board of Canada (2005).

In her own words: excerpts from Dr. Rajani Thiranagama’s writing

“Men in battle garb, whether they come with swords or guns, on a horse or in armored cars, the price of conquest seems heightened by the violation of women.”

“They came to interrogate me in the Dean’s Office. They said that they had come to have a conversation with an intellectual — that I had been extremely hostile. I think that they will try to irritate me. I can handle it pretty well. Some were complaining of my sharp tongue — maybe it’s my sharp tongue that will save me.”

“I would feel so depressed if in my young age — I had not stood with my people especially in this hour of immense suffering — that I had lied to my spirit, to the spirit of my people, to the millions of oppressed people. Maybe it looks grandiose — the betrayed — but that’s how I would feel — that I have chosen comfort and love, the fulfillment of my own desires — to that of their suffering.”

Related events
30 November 1984
14 May 1985
29 July 1987
18 September 1989
1 April 2008

This event was the subject of a feature: Assassination of an activist.

On 10 November 2006, Nadarajah Raviraj, human rights activist and parliamentarian, was assassinated in Colombo. Two years on, PACT looks at his life and work and also other notable Sri Lankan activists killed for speaking out.

We invite you to contribute your views and ask, is activism dead in Sri Lanka?

Nadarajah Raviraj (1962-2006)

“I go for TV interviews with my broken Sinhala not to gain political mileage – none of the Tamils watch those – but to build an understanding with the Sinhalese people and to tell them about the plight of the Tamils,” Nadarajah Raviraj.

Kethesh Loganathan (1952-2006)

“At the time of his death ‘Ketheesh’ was Deputy Secretary-General of the Peace Secretariat and Secretary of the APRC. This makes him appear as a pro-government “establishment” man. The eulogies heaped on him by the “government guys” reinforce this impression. This is perhaps the unkindest cut of all,” D.B.S. Jeyaraj.

Dr Neelan Tiruchelvam (1944-1999)

“Tiruchelvam had sharp and firm convictions. His commitment to reconciliation and to radical, but peaceful change set him at odds with those whose positions were more entrenched.” Excerpt from The Times obituary.

Richard de Zoysa (1958-1990)

“Even though there were crude attempts to justify the killing – leaks about him belonging to the JVP, readings in Parliament from his diary in an attempt to suggest that his sexual proclivities had something to do with the death – in the end it was crystal clear that the government had gone too far,” Rajiva Wijesinha.

Dr. Rajani Thiranagama (1954-1989)

“One day some gun will silence me and it will not be held by an outsider, but by the son born in the womb of this very society, from a woman with whom my history is shared,” Rajani Thiranagama.

Vijaya Kumaratunga (1945-1988)

“In 1986, at the height of the ethnic conflict 6 policemen were taken hostage by the LTTE. It was Vijaya Kumaratunga who went to Jaffna to intervene and secure their release,” Kumar Rupesinghe.

Activists suggested by PACT users:

K. Kanthasamy (1930-1988)

“If we cannot carry on as a free organisation we should close it down,” K. Kanthasamy writing about the relief and rehabilitation organisation in which he worked, shortly before his abduction and disappearance in 1988. Kanthasamy also helped set up the Jaffna-based Saturday Review to (in his
own words) “lend its voice against any human rights violations in the country”.

Audio commentary

Traitors, martyrs or patriots?
Interview series with academic and activist, Dr. Kumar Rupesinghe.

Part 1: Kethesh Loganathan [Audio clip: view full post to listen]
Part 2: Neelan Tiruchelvam [Audio clip: view full post to listen]
Part 3: Nadarajah Raviraj and Vijaya Kumaratunga [Audio clip: view full post to listen]

Other features
Feature: Historical roots of conflict in Sri Lanka
Feature: 18th anniversary of expulsion of northern Muslims by LTTE
Feature: “Black July”, 1983

“I strongly believe that this country belongs to the Sinhalese but there are minority communities and we treat them like our people. We being the majority of the country, 75%, we will never give in and we have the right to protect this country. … They can live in this country with us. But they must not try to, under the pretext of being a minority, demand undue things,” Army Commander Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka, in an interview with Stewart Bell of the National Post newspaper of Canada, 23 September 2008.

PACT’s overall purpose is to examine the root causes and contributory factors of conflict in Sri Lanka and to promote discussion on these themes. In the coming months, the PACT team will invite various individuals, including academics, journalists and historians, to give their perspectives on these topics and in turn we’ll ask you to give your reactions.

PACT’s overall purpose is to examine the root causes and contributory factors of conflict in Sri Lanka and to promote discussion on these themes. Many commentators are calling for the root causes of conflict to be addressed in a meaningful way. They argue that even if the LTTE is defeated militarily, the underlying conflict will continue until the addressal of these critical issues. Indeed, these issues existed long before the LTTE emerged as an armed militant group.

What are these root causes, are they still relevant and what should be done about them? This feature seeks to unpack some of these issues.

The controversial statement above made by Army Commander Lt. General Sarath Fonseka raises issues of origin and a supremacist ideology that has roots, according to our first commentator Lakshman Gunesekara, going back some 500 or even 1,000 years. The former editor of the Sunday Observer talks to the PACT team about his views on the historical and contemporary causes of conflict in Sri Lanka and about racism in Sri Lanka, past and present.

Dr. Farzana Haniffa is an anthropologist and senior lecturer at the University of Colombo. She talks to the PACT team about how the roots of conflict in Sri Lanka have impacted upon the Muslim polity, and on Muslim nationalism and identity.

Dr. Pradeep Jeganathan is a social anthropologist whose research interests range from subaltern nationalism, to the perpetration of violence and its survival. He has published extensively on these subjects. The second edition of Unmaking the Nation: The Politics of Identity and History in Modern Sri Lanka (1995) ), which he co-edited with Qadri Ismail, was published in April, 2009. Dr. Jeganathan has held professorial appointments and fellowships at the Universities of Chicago and Minnesota, The New School’s Graduate Faculty, Delhi University and the International Centre for Ethnic Studies. He talks about the importance of examining Sri Lanka’s colonial past when looking at the roots of conflict in Sri Lanka.

Sunil Bastian is principally a researcher whose central focus of study is political economy, with a broad interest in the political economy of the state. Sunil also works as a consultant for various donors, more recently on their programmes on conflict. In our interview with him, he examines Sri Lanka’s conflict through the lens of the nature of the state.

Earlier features
Feature: Assassination of an activist
Feature: 18th anniversary of expulsion of northern Muslims by LTTE
Feature: “Black July”, 1983

This 30 minute documentary is a collection of young Sri Lankan voices, speaking on their experiences of conflict and their ideas for moving forward. It is from the first phase of an ongoing project carried out by the Poverty and Conflict (PAC) programme at the Centre for Poverty Analysis.

With over 25 years of civil war coming to a close, an entire generation of young people now has the chance to experience relative peace. But what does this mean for people who have grown up only knowing war? Sri Lanka’s conflict has defined their lives, resulting in lost childhoods, disrupted education, restricted freedom, heightened insecurity, and a narrowing of aspirations.

In its first part, the project focuses on more urban youth voices, and in the second, the project will speak to youth from more rural communities in Sri Lanka. The third stage of the project will focus on the comparison between the views of these groups and reflections by the production team on the process of making these documentaries.

Through this reflexive and evolving process it is hoped that different narratives of the conflict and its impacts will be given a voice, and that they will feed into Sri Lanka’s wider social discourse following the end of the war.

“Do we really want to live like this?
Duration 30 mins.

Earlier features
Feature: Historical roots and contemporary causes of conflict in Sri Lanka
Feature: Assassination of an activist
Feature: 18th anniversary of expulsion of northern Muslims by LTTE
Feature: “Black July”, 1983

With the civil war coming to a close, an entire generation of young people now has the chance to experience relative peace. But what does this mean to young people who have grown up only knowing war? The second part of our documentary series presents perspectives of youth from more rural communities in Sri Lanka, speaking on their experiences of conflict and their ideas for moving forward.

Through these documentaries, we seek to give different narratives a voice and contribute to Sri Lanka’s post conflict social discourse.

“What an illusion we’re living in…”
Duration 30 mins.

Previous features
Feature: Do we really want to live like this?
Feature: Historical roots and contemporary causes of conflict in Sri Lanka
Feature: Assassination of an activist
Feature: 18th anniversary of expulsion of northern Muslims by LTTE
Feature: “Black July”, 1983