Rajani Thiranagama portrait at Jaffna University after 30 years
It took nearly three decades for the Jaffna University to place a photograph of an academic-turned-human rights defender whose life was cut short by the Northern separatists.
This week, Dr. Rajani Thiranagama's portrait was placed again after many years, in the senior common room of the university which she served. In 2013, a commemorative event was held to mark her service to the community after 24 years, but the photograph was not placed in the room.
She was the co-author of an iconic book-Broken Palmyra-- which documented human rights violations in the Northern and Eastern provinces in the 1980s, by those engaged in the armed conflict, including the Indian Peace Keeping Forces (IPKF).
She was shot dead by the then dominant militant group--the LTTE--while she was returning home from the university on her bicycle.