Terror attack victim Dr. Rajani ‘was deeply affected by what was happening to civilians, particularly children’
Daughter pays birth anniversary tribute to human rights activist killed in Jaffna in 1989
COLOMBO: The late Rajani Thiranagama Rajasingham, whose birth anniversary fell on Tuesday Feb. 23, “was deeply affected by what was happening to civilians, particularly children and wanted to protect as many of them as possible,” says her daughter Narmada in a Twitter post.
Dr. Rajani, born on Feb. 23, 1954, was a human rights activist who was assassinated in Sri Lanka’s northern Jaffna district in September 1989.
At the time of her assassination, she was the head of the Department of Anatomy at the University of Jaffna and an active member of University Teachers for Human Rights, Jaffna branch, of which she is one of the founding members.
On Feb. 23, 2021, @Narmadha tweeted: “If she had lived, my mother (Rajani) would have been 67 today. Denied over 30 years of life, I can only think what she would have done with them. Her death reshaped the purpose of my life, a vow to live, to live, to live for her. As I grew up I understood how time doesn’t heal but teaches.”
The daughter added: “I had the privilege of growing, changing, learning and experiencing this world. I met her again and again as I matured. I grieved after I turned 35 as I realized my happiest, wisest and best years were still ahead of me. Years of life she wasn’t given.”
Paying tribute to Rajani, Sunil Govinnage, PhD, told Narmada via Twitter: “Your mother was a great person and a humanist. Despite the opportunity, she didn’t leave the country like many of her batchmates. My wife had lived under the same roof with Rajini during the medical students life but took a different path to protect our children from a bloody war.”
Rajani co-authored a book entitled The Broken Palmyra.
A few weeks after the publication of The Broken Palmyra, on Sept. 21, 1989, the doctor was shot dead at Thirunelvely, Jaffna in front of her house by a gunman while cycling back from work.
Rajani broke ethnic and religious barriers and married Dayapala Thiranagama in 1977. They had two daughters: Narmada and Sharika.