Page 1
23.02.1954
ON THE TWENTIETH DER
 

21.09.1989
ATH ANNIVERSARY OF
IRANAGAMA
09

Page 2


Page 3
Remembel
ON THE TWENTIETH DI DR. RAJANIT) 20
I want to prove that ordinary WOe
and power to fight alor
Publishe The Rajani Thiranagama M The International Centr

ring Rajani
EATH ANNIVERSARY OF HIIRANAGAMA
)09
like me also have enormous courage he and hold our inner selves together.
- Rajani
d by emorial Committee and 'e for Ethnic Studies

Page 4
With thanks to the Austr
Publis]
Rajani Thiranagama l
International Centre
2, Kynse
Color
 

ふ
alian High Commission
led by
Memorial Committee
; for Ethnic Studies
| Terrace
mbo 8

Page 5
Garland f
You refused to eat the e: and bitter; returned to li of death pursuing you, y They shot you like a dog in will be remembered as t For you no tinsel wreath, t

Dr Rajani
xile’s bread, bounteous ive with the hot breath et held your head high. n the street, but that death heir shame, your pride. but flowers as for a bride.
- Regi Siriwardena

Page 6


Page 7
The Murder of Dr. Rajani Thiranagama
UTHR (JAFFNA) FACES A TIME OF CHALLENGE AND RE
On the 21 September 1989, Dr. Rajani Thiranagama, was murdered while returning home, a few yards fron ask, in a community benumbed by hundreds of senselk the significance of this particular murder? To be sure meetings, the killing was a dastardly act against a lor little girls. Its phenomenal significance lay in what the spectrum of values which Rajani upheld both in pra members of the UTHR as being necessary for the life included, telling the truth about the unpleasant side
practice of academic freedom, telling students that practical involvement in the concerns of women who h
The killing was very different from what one might e. anger. It was coldly premeditated and meticulously scheduling the killing just after the last viva voce exam took place on the second day of the ceasefire. The kill have to pass while rushing home from work to care Rajani had fallen, to park his bicycle and pump a few n
Even Rajani's death brought out from the society arou antithesis of a freedom struggle - the very thing Raja the assassin's shots, with the exception of a few medic or shut themselves inside their homes. It was difficult t volunteered to look after her children or visited them nor colleagues. There was fear of association. Many cl and the meetings which followed. Far from showing profession and her faculty colleagues were divided and everyone knew that it was wrong and totally unjustif anonymity. Rajani's friends and admirers were many, from the many risks she had personally undertaken. He for, but would not say it openly, lest they expose be intentions. Yet initially at least, the dominant reaction mixture of madness and fear. This was the Society, pli and herein lies the chief significance of the event.
THE UTHR AND THE FUTURE OF EDUCATION
The UTHR (Jaffna) in its reports over the last year, cor by all armed groups, relying only on the strength flo within the community, discussion of the social dime thought of as a necessary self-purifying process. Rajar we cannot condemn the society as aliens outside it, but and our conduct and attitudes as contributory to the gi the guns were some of the most tragic victims of compassion.
It was this realisation that impelled Rajani and several within the university as members of staff unions, as stu Boards. Nearly all those who felt the need for reform,
of the UTHR student counsellors, of whom Rajani problems faced by student in the way of arrests and sel

-EVALUATION
a live wire and leading member of the UTHR (Jaffna) the Faculty of Medicine where she worked. One may. ss killing and driven to protective indifference, what is as many speakers had pointed out at commemoration e, helpless and unarmed woman, and a mother of two killers were trying to destroy. This represented a whole 'tice and precept and deemed both by her and fellow and freedom of the community. Her field of activities and hypocrisy of this suicidally-bent community, the ome of their views were simplistic and narrow, and ad suffered.
(pect from an undisciplined military force in a state of planned. Even the detail of minimum disruption, by inations in Anatomy had been looked into. The murder er had waited at a relatively lonely spot that she would for her little ones. He had even found the time, after hore bullets into her head, before making his escape.
nd many of the attributes of fascist regimentation - the hi had stood against throughout her career. On hearing al students and Some ordinary people, the rest ran away o find a vehicle to transport her to hospital. Those who he night following the killing were neither neighbours ose to the family admitted fear of attending the funeral a sense of solidarity and outrage, the local medical confused as to how to respond to this killing. No doubt ied, not least the killers. The latter chose silence and who had enjoyed her personal care and had benefited 'r enemies were those who were against what she stood fore the people their emptiness, real motivations and o her killing, as for other killings, was not anger, but a able and spiritless, that her killers were trying to build;
centrated on exposing the devaluation of human norms wing from integrity. It also attempted to foster, from insions of its drift towards a fascist order. This was i was amongst those most conscious of the truism that that we must examine ourselves as part of the problem owth of evils. Thus in many senses the men who held this Society. Rajani's anger is never unmixed with
others to strengthen their efforts at tackling problems lent counsellors and as members of Senate and Faculty rom professors to assistant lecturers, became members was one, had one of their busiest times dealing with urity, together with specific problems of new entrants.

Page 8
Amongst the most important issues within the universi where the hierarchical differences had been strength disuse. An important event in the university during Committee of staff, students, executives and employe stood up to several tests in dealing with crisis involving
Many saw this urge for reform as crucial for the raising of violence in the society in general.
A crucial element in the maintenance of educationa doctoral training. After the July 1983 riots it almost ca return. Administrators thought they would be lucky i salary advances, could be collected. Meanwhile the ex a case in point. In this country which has five medi now), to run a proper anatomy course. Each medical co the key pre-clinical Subject. Rajani ran the departme standards. If not for Rajani's ability as an administrat whose research program suffered because of war diffic is under training in Britain. The training of doctors i setback.
In spite of the disincentives, number of trained acaden salaries or for the research facilities. They came becau because they felt that the community had a need of pe did not think themselves extraordinary, but wished to This is attested to by the fact that all four persons, inc degrees from early 1987, also have been committe educational advancement of the Tamils is linked to th commitment of this kind.
In Rajani's own case, she had with three other acaden which attempted to examine impartially the Tamil p power and militant groups, and their ideologies. Ra possible death a number of times. Personal letters in number a friends and those of influence putting pressu three month research stint. But, Rajani came back on Anatomy viva voce examinations for the second M women's rehabilitation centre she had helped to sta complete her examinations. A letter addressed to the W read out by him at the first commemoration meetir informed the Vice Chancellor of her research success my people. So here I am. It is this kind of commitm The Tamil society that they have in mind is spiritles which is moreover a cultural, educational and intellect

ty was the exercise of administrative power in a system 2ned while channels of accountability had fallen into these periods was the setting up of the coordinating 's unions, with the Vice Chancellor as chairman. It has
the university.
of educational standards, as well as for the elimination
| Standards is the return of those who go abroad for me to be taken for granted that such persons would not only the bond obligations, which included travel and odus of trained persons continued. Rajani's example is al colleges there were four trained Anatomists (three ollege requires a number of Anatomists, Anatomy being nt single handed, making many Sacrifices to up hold or in representing the problems of an assistant lecturer ulties, the university would have lost an Anatomist who in Jaffna has now suffered an irreplaceable qualitative
nics returned in recent times. They did not come for the use they felt an obligation to answer the challenge, and ople who would take a principled Stand on issues. They be ordinary working people and a sobering presence. luding Rajani, who returned from Britain with doctoral 2d and active members of the UTHR (J). Thus the e Society demonstrating that it values and has room for
nics co-authored "The Broken Palmyrah in early 1988, redicament. It spoke frankly about the actions of state jani was conscious of the risk and had referred to her
her possession and letters written by her, testify to a ire on her to remain in Britain while she was there for a
3"September. Two commitments uppermost were the MBBS and the teething problems of Poorani Illam, a rt. Her killers were cynical enough to wait for her to lice Chancellor soon after her return from England, and g on 2" October, says much about Rajani. In it she es and went to say, "There is no life for me apart from ent and integrity that the killers find most unwelcome. S, uncaring, where every man fears his neighbour and ual desert.

Page 9
Dear Friends,
I share your grief and anger that Raja not allow the bullets which put an end to her life al answers to the questions she so courageously asked. determination? Is it the freedom of those who have the have neither? Self-determination for a few and repres Or are we aiming for freedom and self-determinati dominant class, caste, race, gender or political group? Rajani was passionately opposed to every fo Society where people would all think, decide and ac opposite: a society where the majority would be crushe critical and outspoken would be silenced by bullets. Ol also undertake to join her associates in opposing those in encouraging the formation of the people's structur a truly popular democracy in the whole of our subcont
Yours in solidarity
Rohini Banaji (née Hensman)

| 5. II. 89
ni's physical presence is no longer with us, but we must so put an end to her work. We must continue to seek What kind of freedom do we want? What kind of self. guns and the power to impose their will on those who Sion or liquidation for those who disagree with them? on for everyone - not just those who belong to the
orm of authoritarianism and committed to building a rt for themselves. Those who killed her stand for the d and passive, where those like Rajani who dared to be ir commemoration of her will be meaningless unless we : who already rule or want to rule over us by force, and 2s' which she saw as being so crucial, in order to build nent.

Page 10
The lO of yol you spark your eloq your emp Will Sta alv
You paic for nu fearle in all
As we m
We re. the preciou and our de to take up to echo for a retur and a to the \
that our lar
You have no
You have

ing oval ur face,
r eyes ing fire uent hands hatic voice y with us vayS
il the price rturing
SSCSS of us
hourn you -affirm Sness of life termination p your call your plea in to sanity un end violence
tearS nd apart
it been buried been sown
- Gabriele Dietrich

Page 11
Dear friends,
In the last two days I have made so many unst know what to say, how to say it. Words seem so frivolc our fear, which many of us experienced every day read our friend, is no more. Chitra's letter tells us how..., wh
How easy it has become to KILL. In a few mon can be replaced, yet the madness goes On. We watc. feeling of impotence. Violence has become so rampant. stop it. We just see it spreading, engulfing, more and m
I have been listening to Rajani's voice on t passion, commitment, idealism, hope... all gone? It i. Rajani yesterday. I am sharing it with you. This letter, depth analysis. She was one of the few to respond 1 challenged all of us to be more rigorous, to be more op us do more work on all the issues she has Outlined. Let
But really, this was no time for her to go.
And tell me, what do we do about all the other Lanka? Will we only keep looking at the lists in the when we recognize a name? Can we really do nothing c
Dear Kamla,
Thank you so much for all the support and caring publishing the Bangalore sessions, we should dedicate is it our fate to lose these lovely and oh, so precious w so unfair. The empty space left in our lives and in our can take her place. And it's the same for Rajani. And and it really makes you SO angry...

5 October 1989
'ccessful attempts to write this letter to you. Just don't us, so inadequate. Yet I must write and tell you... that ng the news about Sri Lanka, has become true, Rajani, ten.... None of us knows the answer to the WHY?
ents a life so precious can be blown outlill No life lost and suffer. Anger, helplessness, desperation and a ... all around us. None of us wants it and yet we cannot pre people, more and more communities.
le Bangalore workshop tapes. All the intensity, fire, s all so strange and painful. I received a letter from shows her concern, her commitment, her desire for ino the declaration with so much thought. Rajani has en, to be more patient. Let us accept her challenge, let as do it in her memory.
s (friends and people not known to us) who are in Sri newspapers? And reacting with this kind of pain only lse?
Love,
Kamla
31 October 1989
tluring these last days... ... If ever we get around to it to Rajani, remember Bangladesh, and Leena? Why Omen at a time when we need them the most? It seems vork by Leena's death is stillas empty as ever, nobody then one thinks of the hundred others who have died -
... Love, Sunila

Page 12
1C
For Ra
Just a little t Before the And yields to This night that is
A devils Adorned i From the fui Of the r Lit by th
You Ran swiftly h To light a Before the nigh
But mo They are faster Keeping up
These messag
A pis! Five sh
When yo Upon the The dyin Of the Sett Cast your
on the w Hands up Unyieldi Unto ete
Men in battle garb, whether they come with Swords or conquest seems heightened by the violation of women.

jani
me is left
Sun SetS
the night like no other
night n ashes eral pyre
OOI
StarS
omewards candle t could Set in
ther than us now from hell es of Yama
tol
OtS
lu fell earth
grayS ing sun shadow /orld raised
Ilg. . . rnity.
-Cheran
(translated from the Tamil)
guns, on a horse or in armoured cars, the price of
- Rajani

Page 13
Memories of Rajani Vijyakumary Muragaiah
When I was a schoolgirl in the 1980s, many times scho strict about me coming home on time because he th feared that I would join the militant groups and he wa would not bring any change. However, I went to some and many others. They talked about politics, but I thou Also they only talked about armed politics which I fou
I didn't go to higher studies because my father to grandmother warned us about army men and other bo always wear long dresses. Then my uncle and cousin fields. My mother kept packed our legal documents, p we needed to a safe Zone. To have food and shelter w in the war zone. When my sister was 13, she was recr bomb maker. She was killed by a faulty bomb.
I first met Rajani Acca in Jaffna. I found her open and 1989 and learnt many things. She would often ask me then what would happen to her. I loved her. Rajanica and hold her hand and tell her what we were doing. M a threat to their control over politics within Tamil com as I felt very close to her. Still I feel sad.
Poorani means full of life. Poorani, the first women women who had been affected by war and socially disc of women have been raped, murdered and tortured by with no respect by Tamil Society and they suffered wanted to marry a beautiful Virgin only. I saw firsthar against women. It is very important to remember that students, Poorani women and others worked togethe collectively and created space within the centre and co At the time organising in the Tamil community was d violence of the LTTE, IPKF and the Sri Lankan Secur valuable work with women in the community.
After Rajani was killed by the LTTE, Poorani came protests against Rajani's killing in the Jaffna town. Al women also came for that, and it was the first time I h struggling. Some women left, we didn't know where th we could not continue our work. LTTE continued to became cadres. Some of them died. Some of them are Sivaramani, two poets from the Women Study Circle by the LTTE and Sivaramani killed herself. There are for human rights. A few of us still continue the strug displaced. I look forward to change, a political settlem

ols were closed because of the war. My father was very ought that I would be going to political meetings. He s a follower of the TULF and thought that the militants of the meetings held by EPRLF, LTTE, TELO, ENTLF ght that their politics was not very concrete or practical. nd very frightening.
ld me he didn't have money for my education. My ys and how we had to protect ourselves. She told us to brother were killed by the IPKF while out in the paddy assports, birth certificate and ID cards, to run whenever is all we aspired to. That's how people struggled to live uited by the LTTE from school, and made to work as a
kind. After she started the Poorani centre, I joined it in what I would like to be. I never told her. I didn't know me all the time to Poorani. When I saw her. I would run any people believed in her work. The Tigers saw her as munity and they shot her. It was a painful loss for me,
s centre in Jaffna started empowering and developing criminated against. In North Eastern Sri Lanka hundreds the IPKF but also the LTTE. Such women were treated greatly. Many women just wanted to die. Tamil men ld the cruelty of the discrimination and sexual violence Poorani was a whole community of people. University r. Even in difficult times women stayed and worked ommunity to mobilise large numbers of village women. fficult because of the climate of fear, intimidation, and ity forces. However, we continued the struggle and the
under threat. The Jaffna university students organized the Poorani women joined the protest, some southern ad met women from the South. But afterwards we were ey went to. The LTTE took control of the centre and so run the centre and some women stayed with them and missing. The Muslims were sent out of Jaffna. Selvi and who often stayed with us until the end - Selvi was taken so many others missing and dead of those who worked gle. Now my major concern is the thousands dead and :nt, and a peaceful and dignified resettlement of IDPs.

Page 14
12
The Untimel
Dear Dr. R. T Our respected Te Your sudden depa And We weep for Single hande Steering the Depart And at the helm of
The glow of Was the Source of You kindled And directed us Efforts, aspiration Thank you, be We are at a loss to e. And our deep grieft Our appreciation of y Is beyond word Let your Soul and continue Farewell to you, ou
Objectivity was not solely an academic exercise for us. critical and honest positions, was not only crucial for us our lives.

y Departure
'hiranagama, acher and Guide rture is Untimely the cruel tragedy d were You. ment of Anatomy. affairs in that field four intellect
your inspiration our spirits in our pursuits S and endeavours loved teacher Xpress our gratitude hat shook us rudely our Sterling qualities S and gestures, rest in peace to inspire us ur beloved teacher.
- Students, 1986-87 Batch, Faculty of Medicine, University of Jaffna
Objectivity, the pursuit of truth and the propagation of the Community but was a view that could cost many of
- Rajani

Page 15
Keeping Rajani Alive Indrawansa de Silva
I first met Rajani thirty-three years ago. At the times killed an unarmed apolitical student at Peradeniya cam Students' Federation at the time and was at the forefro the government about the killing of Weerasooriya. M Rajani's future husband, introduced Rajani to me as a in our effort to get it involved in the protest against the
Medical students were the least politically active body two or three others - broke the mould. When I first m eager to join her peers from other campuses in protest precedent in the student movement for Medicos to er pipedream but not for Rajani. She invited me to addres: a desk and make a rousing speech.
Rajani and I had a communication problem. She was bi we were on the same wavelength and somehow spoke What I saw in her that day standing atop that desk w charismatic fighter for justice who was, unbeknown to
There are two images of Rajani preserved in my men advocate of justice addressing the crowd with a wagg holding onto her Sari. The other is image is Rajani by hospital trying to explain to me, with patience and cari her coma. Sadly, the qualities she possessed in such rich
Why then would someone want to put a bullet in her he
This is a deceptively simple question that requires car last three decades during which dissent was met with a opposition. This is not the place for such a monume moment in history where we are gathered to celebrate F how such brutality became the norm.
Political violence is not a recent phenomenon in Sri sixties I witnessed the victor's revenge after pretty muc had been rampant destruction of property along with 1977 was a watershed election where JR, Premadasa & settle political disagreements. When racial riots broke about three days to go on national TV to denounce th were expressing “legitimate anger” However, violenc the entire political spectrum of the country - the left an
The assassination of Rajani then, is the product of our p
Who is accountable for Rajani's death and the deaths ( of political dissent? Was anyone ever brought to justic and charred beneath burning tyres? We all know the a possess the power and the armed hand.
Alarmingly we continue to speak of such brutality as o in Sri Lanka is tantamount to a suicide pact unless of co must stop. For better or for worse - hopefully for the b

13
tudent unrest was escalating after the police shot and fus. I happened to be the President of the Inter-Campus nt of the student movement that effectively challenged sy good friend (mustn't I say, comrade?) Dayapala, conduit to the Colombo Medical College student body killing of one of their fellow students.
in that age bracket at the time. But Rajani - and about let Rajani she was visibly shaken by the shooting and by walking out of classes. However, there had been no gage in political protest. For us on the left, it was a the student body but she was the first one to climb on
lingual-Tamil and English - and I spoke neither. Yet, hat universal tongue of shared ideals and camaraderie. as not only a doctor in making but also a passionate ither one of us, was writing her own epitaph.
nory. The first is the one I just described - the feisty ing finger of her right hand while with her left hand the side of my grandmother's deathbed at Kalubowila ng, that my grandmother would unlikely to wake from h abundance are in very short supply today.
ad?
2ful analyses of the Sri Lankan political culture of the bullet or some other heinous act intend to silence the ntal task. However, I would like to conjecture - this Rajani's life - about what made us such a brutal lot and
lanka. As a little boy growing up in Colombo in the :h every election. Then came the seventies where there the occasional killing. However, the UNP victory in : Co., brought violence as a legitimate political tool to out in 1983 it took then President J.R. Jayawardene em and reportedly said that the Sinhalese at that time as a means of settling political discourse came from i the right- and from LTTE.
olitical culture.
of thousands of other sons and daughters for the crime for those bodies hanging on lampposts, littered rivers nswer. We live in a culture of impunity for those who
:currences of the past. But even today entering politics urse, you have your own little underground army. That etter — we are at historical crossroads with the military

Page 16
14
defeat of the LTTE. There is a window of opportuni closing. Sri Lanka did not write the book on political can turn to the world for lessons. The most recent l Fifteen years ago nearly a million people from the Tu months in the name of an ideology known as Hutu Pow and most orderly countries in Africa'
Can we continue to be indifferent to violence as a mean
We owe that much not just to Rajani but also to the th are too many to commemorate.
See "The Life After.” The New Yorker, May 4, 2009.

y to turn things around and that window is quickly violence (it certainly added a chapter though) and we 'ssons seem to come from the Rwandan experience. tsi minority were massacred over the course of three er. But today Rwanda is identified as one of the safest
to settle political dissent? Silence is consent.
ousands of sisters and brothers whose disappearances

Page 17
Rajani Thiranagama: Making of a New Revolution:
Dayapala Thiranagama
Delivered on the twentieth death anniversary of Rajani
On the morning of 22 September 1989 I was asked to message from Jaffna. Some friends of mine were wait and who had had lunch with Rajani on the previous message. "Your wife, Rajani, was shot by a gunm university. She was fatally wounded in the attack. Y herself was deeply shocked and was in a state of distr had to ever deliver to a totally unknown person within the incredible speed with which my head started spinni
The woman who brought the message of Rajani's deat who was right beside our family's side in London whe
Rajani demonstrated an extraordinary courage and human dignity against all the parties embroiled in a bit were placed at risk of displacement and death. Wome 1987-89, the Tamil people had to witness the most des Tamil Tigers and the Sri Lankan army, which then c Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF). In the Sinhalese assassinating the left activists who supported the dev amendment.
This account of Rajani's life attempts to trace the jo Tamil medical student who became conscious of the
ethnic identity, to a tireless human rights activist who p no hesitations. This is the story of a new kind of contribution, as it has as much significance to the curre
Rajani began her political life through the Student Chr the students in the mid-1970s and beyond, and got inv needed to be analysed within a wider socio-economic
could not be ignored. Rajani and her other colleagues
links with the SCM. The end of the mid- 1970s also ma At Peradeniya an innocent student, WeeraSoorya, wa through the student movement and the universities w schools in Colombo joined the protest following the V student movement. The Colombo Medical Faculty, for murder of Weerasoorya by the police. Rajani was at Faculty. This was the reason I met Rajani in Septembe and the decision we would make from now would cha fell in love and got married on 28" August 1977, in still a medical student and I had just begun an acac ourselves the unity of opposites' in relation to our soci
In Rajani's journey from an ordinary politically revolutionary, her marriage was the first step. Rajani who had spent many years in prison. And my own Soc in the Sinhalese down south was quite unimpressive

15
try
Thiranagama
come to a safe house in Colombo to receive an urgent ing there with a messenger who had come from Jaffna day. She wasted no time or words in delivering the an yesterday afternoon on her way home from the our children are with their grandparents.” The woman ess. It would have been the most difficult message she such a short time in such a few words. I still remember ng and how speechless I was.
h for me in Colombo later became an invaluable friend never we needed support.
inwavering commitment in her quest for justice and utal armed conflict where the lives of ordinary masses n and the children had to bear the brunt of it. Between tructive war the community had ever seen between the continued unabated between the Tamil Tigers and the south the situation became alarming as the JVP started solution of power to the Tamil people under the 13"
urney of a new revolutionary from an ordinary young experience of her community and the meaning of her aid the ultimate price for what she believed in. She had revolutionary. It also tries to unearth her political nt situation as it did 25 years ago.
istian Movement (SCM), which was very active among olved in the political issues of the day. As these issues context, other political groups offered more space that did not hesitate to use such forums while keeping their rked the end of relative peace in the student movement. S gunned down by the police. This sent shockwaves ere closed down by the authorities. For the first time, Weerasoorya murder. The public were fully behind the the first time in its history, went on a strike against the the forefront in organizing the strike at the Medical r 1976. Our meeting marked a new chapter in our lives nge not only our lives but also our family forever. We he middle of anti-Tamil riots in Colombo. Rajani was lemic career in the University. We sometimes called al, cultural and ethnic differences.
conscious Tamil woman to an extraordinary new broke her barriers and got married to a Sinhalese man ial profile of being brought up in a poor peasant family to her middle-class community. Rajani's courage and

Page 18
16
human understanding in accepting me as I was, be understanding of inter-ethnic relations in both commu They were the sons and daughters of the generation of to the 1956 Sinhalese social mobility. As far as o inconvenient truth about our relationship and marriage commitment. We also came to terms with the fact tha make both parents available for the children through Lanka would be a very dangerous affair, just as it is t our family was concerned, ideologically and politica existence and Rajani's contribution was crucial in this unhesitant approval, and courage we would not have b survival test of our times. Then the birth of our dau wonder at times about the level of our political comm issue. That was a huge responsibility we had failed to a
Rajani's consciousness in its evolution took a dram predominantly Sinhalese village on the Balangoda - F Tamil community. Tamils were the poorest of the poc young boy who was a patient in the hospital that her would be the only chance of his survival. The woman died in Badulla she would not have the money to bring ignoring her plea, and he returned home after a full re. Such situations of poverty and suffering, and how t existence. It left an un-erasable scar on her conscience was not the best employment in such circumstances an and joined the Medical Faculty in Jaffna University.
In 1983 Rajani started campaigning to release her siste under the PTA. Prior to this, Rajani had treated injure 1983 on a Commonwealth scholarship to commence h Tamil Tigers and her campaigning for her sister both h mid-1984 in London and it appeared then that there wa to Sri Lanka through legal channels. I came back to S there was a huge wall between us. We decided to part
honest, politically straightforward, truthful, fiercely in to handle. These were the personal qualities of a new
personal and political journey, which resulted in her
community. Rajani also possessed certain qualities th people. After I left for Sri Lanka, within a couple of m with her two daughters against the advice of the family wrote to me, "I am very worried. It is difficult to live h through - particularly, Inhumanity everywhere. Amma talk out loud or do something'. Against this depres together her new political outlook which consists of t freedom to organise structures that would ensure dem components in her outlook was her feminism - empow independent voice of the woman. She worked for t structures and political ideas ideologically and polit Tigers. They were poorly equipped with the political i a mature dialogue with dissenting voices. Rajani's brought these ideas to people's attention. Her pioneeri University Teachers for Human Rights (UTHR J)
community. This work and these political ideas sent sh the Tamil Tigers. The UTHR rightly introduces Raja

wildered even some of our political friends, whose nities had serious defects at the time, as it does today. parents, including my own, that formed and belonged ur families were concerned, they had to accept the :. Rajani also accepted the continuation of my political ut our family was not going to be a family that would out their childhood. Any political involvement in Sri Dday. These were hard and painful decisions. As far as lly, it departed from the accepted family norms of its transformation. Without Rajani's deep understanding, uilt a family unit that would withstand the political and ighters Narmada (1978) and Sharika (1980) made us itments. This was a very emotive, painful, and difficult nticipate.
atic turn when she had to work in Haldummulla, a Haputale Road, which also had a scattered hill-country frthere. One day Rajani had to inform the mother of a son would be transferred to the Badulla Hospital. That begged Rajani not to transfer him, simply because if he his body back home. However, he was sent to Badulla, covery. Rajani found it extremely difficult to deal with hese hampered any possibility of a dignified human ... Finally in 1980 we both decided that medical practice d decided to leave for Jaffna. Rajani opted for teaching
r Nirmala Rajasingam from jail who had been detained di Tamil militants. Rajani left for England by the end of er postgraduate studies. Her initial exposure to militant ad contributed to her joining the LTTE. I visited her in is no going back on her part. She did not wish to return ri Lanka and this was tantamount to a farewell as I felt and go on Our Separate ways. However, Rajani was too dependent, and committed to her beliefs for the LTTE kind of revolutionary Rajani came to represent in her ultimate sacrifice for the right of dissent in the Tamil hat made it possible for her to connect with ordinary onths Rajani had left the Tigers. She returned to Jaffna and friends in 1986. In April 1987 from Jaffna Rajani !ere. Most depressing is the dark valley we are walking is scared, she is scared for the children that I would sing and gloomy political background, Rajani fused he right to dissent against the rule of the gun and the ocratic freedom with human dignity. One of the major ering women and building structures to strengthen the he formation of Poorani for destitute women. These ically went against the military project of the Tamil deas and organisations that would be capable of having joint authorship of The Broken Palmyra with others ng role with other university academics in forming the marked a milestone in human rights in the Tamil ockwaves through the professed monolithic structure of ni as a live wire of the organisation even today in its

Page 19
website. The Tamil-Tigers understood the possible poli to stop a live wire of the organisation for good. Rajani the road to victory is when human dignity and the rig violence to resolve political issues.
It is also necessary to reflect on the validity of Rajani use Rajani's phrase still, we are walking through a d fundamental issues today is the fear to speak out or the not entirely disappeared. Unless the democratic space Tamil community peace will be as elusive as ever.
It is possible that in both the Tamil and Sinhalese c Rajani, as the political barriers for which Rajani had to fundamental democratic right of dissent, are still not r world a better place.
For twenty long years I have been coming to terms wit few seconds before her death and my inability to shar she wrote to mesaying that, "If anyone knows me in t to her, for the depth of my love for her, and for the tr relationship taught me.
Rajani and I loved Bob Marley's music. She particul quoting "Get up stand up, Stand up for your rights".

17
tical danger from Rajani. The Tigers would not hesitate 's life and death shows how long, arduous, and painful ght to dissent are violated by those who choose to use
's ideas in relation to the current political situation. To ark valley, and inhumanity is everywhere. One of the right to dissent. The dark shadow of the ethnic war has is expanded with maximum devolution of power to the
ommunities there will be more and more people like give her life, as a new revolutionary in support of their 2moved. Those who follow Rajani's path will make our
h the terrible pain and anguish Rajani would have felt a e that with her. I know how she would have felt. Once nis world like pages of a book it is you." I owe so much ue understanding of the beauty of human love that our
arly liked one song with which I would like to end by

Page 20


Page 21
The Rajani Thiranaga
Resistance and th
Nandita Delivered Sept.
I have never found it difficult to express myself. Wo arrange my thoughts in neat paragraphs. That is why v her sister Rajani I did not realise how difficult it would
I was asked to share my experience of working in the N case in which I was part of the defence team to repr accused of being involved in the attack. I thought I w and Kashmir and the effects of militarization. It woulc the occasion demanded something more substantial tha
I was also recommended The Broken Palmyrah as es when a young journalist from Sri Lanka had come to D his mission and tried to dissuade him from pursuing it aspects of the military intervention because I had see Bangladesh and also in North East India.
Indian friends from the left supported the idea of Indiai in a left weekly, advised our friend from the EPRLF human rights activist who did not understand realpolitil
Nirmala insisted that I see a film on her sister. I was in me to see it. I took it for granted that she wanted me t close to Rajani. When I received a small parcel contai hope and betrayal' I sat down to see the film with th facing a personal tragedy.
But after seeing the film I began to understand the po you have reposed in me by inviting me to give a lectur not just an act of one betrayal and one tragedy but the changed their lives for ever.
Despite this personal tragedy, Rajani's family, friends again to try and answer questions that Rajani strugglec unanswered.
The film showed so poignantly the problems of inte personified in the debates between Rajani and Dayapa of war; the problems of living and practising femin patriarchy; the consequences of armed resistance wit the human rights violations by IPKF, which raises q differentiate between state intervention and peoples' so
I was totally unprepared for the impact of the film. It memories that I had buried deep inside. It also made political despondency. I felt I was being given an oppo for in my own country but have not been able to find.

ma Memorial Lecture
le Politics of Fear
Haksar 2mber 25, 2009
fras flow easily and my training as a lawyer helps to when Nirmala asked me to give a lecture in memory of be for me to write this time.
North East of India and also about the Parliament attack 2sent a Kashmiri Muslim lecturer of Delhi University ould share my experience of working in the north east have been a simple narrative. But I began to feel that n personal reminiscences.
sential reading. It brought back memories of the time elhi to lobby for Indian intervention. I was horrified by . At that time I was concerned about the human rights n first-hand the effects of Indian army intervention in
armed intervention. One of them, a journalist working not to pay attention to my view, since I was a mere
• ܠ
terested but I did not fully realise why Nirmala wanted o have a feel of what the assassination meant for those ning the film entitled "No more tears sister: anatomy of e feeling that I would be sharing the grief of a family
litical significance of this event and the great trust that in memory of Rajani. The assassination of Rajani was tragedy that touched the lives of so many people and
, and other political activists have come together once i with all her life. And those political questions remain
grating class struggle and nationality movements, as la; the role of the human rights movement in the midst ist ideals while Supporting an organisation based on hout political ideology; and Rajani's documentation of lestions about international solidarity and the need to lidarity across borders.
ffected me deeply and opened up old wounds, revived me Snap out of my feeling of isolation and growing tunity to Speak out, an opportunity I have been looking

Page 22
20
Rajani was born in the same year as I was - a few y colonialism and became politically independent. We we of the freedom fighters all over the world, and the utop It was an era of ideas and ideals. We were prepared to we took up and die for it. We were a generation of fools
It is already twenty years since Rajani died. We are Despite the personal tragedies and political betrayal countries. We have the courage and energy to look b dream of a future for our children. But the task befor before we make any political intervention.
I, of course, have no answers. In fact more than thirty lawyer, has left me feeling extremely isolated, marginal Some years ago I was visiting some friends at the Jaw were teachers. Since they were out, their little fourtee about my work in the North East. I told her about committing human rights violations in Naga villages. S with the story of my commitment.
She was silent for a while, confused, and then with the question that has haunted me all these years: "But have
In the India in which this young girl was born, success of the middle class Indians in Delhi revolves around sh the great Indian Middle Class.
In America by the early 1990s, four billion square feet square feet for every American man, woman and child reaching those proportions.
I have often sat at a food court in one of the shopp enjoying their pizzas and American Sandwiches. I wan the Kashmiri Muslim man in a solitary cell waiting to b for himself what his father will experience; the Naga attacking their homes at night; perhaps about the Bur more than ten years.
I think for many of these young people it would be in rights of people who they would call terrorists. In fact shopping mall; Such an attack represents the danger blowing up of their dreams.
The year 1989 was the year when all the old dreams died. The year Rajani was assassinated was the year w We were left feeling a loss, a strange emptiness, a vact dreams and visions disintegrated. The causes to whicl had sustained us, comrades who had been dearer to us would never dream again.
We were surrounded by cynicism, pragmatism and a sc appropriated by our enemies. The human rights mov movements were co-opted into the agenda of the imp alone.

'ears after our countries threw off the yoke of British ere born in an era full of dreams: there were the dreams ias of the Socialists, the communists and the feminists. plunge into a movement, dedicate our lives to the cause
and dreamers.
no longer young, but I think we have become wiser. s, we still long to participate in the politics of our back dispassionately at our political past and We Still e all of us is to find answers to some basic questions
years of active political life, mostly as a human rights ised and wondering whether I have not wasted my life. vaharlal Nehru University. Both the husband and wife n-year-old daughter kept me company. She asked me the case I was fighting against the armed forces for She listened intently and I thought I had impressed her
candour only a child can have, asked that devastating you been successful, aunty?"
is judged by what you can afford to buy. The social life topping malls. Shopping malls personify the dreams of
of space had been converted into shopping centres – 16 . I do not know the figure for Delhi but we seem to be
ing malls and wanted to approach the young people it to tell them about the cases in which I am involved: e hanged and his son trying to hang himself to find out children who have nightmares about the Indian army mese freedom fighters in Indian jails languishing for
comprehensible why anyone should care about human this class lives in the fear of a terrorist attack on the not only to their physical safety - it would mean the
and visions which had nourished us and sustained us then the Soviet Union collapsed and an era died. Now uum. So many movements, organisations, possibilities, h We had dedicated our lives, the organisations which s than our family members betrayed us. It seemed we
)ciety which became depoliticised and our politics was vement, the feminist movement, indigenous peoples' perialists and we were left marginalised, isolated and

Page 23
Ever since that time. I have been mulling over all the ev it dispassionately in the light of my persistent hope tha question that haunts me and many of my generation iss Socialism be revived?
Recently I did a little political experiment. On August young people to watch a Latin American film. It is a called the Hour of the Furnace. It is a documentary in analyse their society and identify the enemy.
The film talks about Vietnam, of the exploitation of discrimination against the native indigenous populatio violence of the State. It shows how the intelligentsia colonialism and it ends with a call for armed resistance entire screen. There is no commentary, music or sound.
I was astonished that my young friends were moved by critical of many assumptions made in the film. The fil products of imperialism but assumes that the resis consciousness of the people. It does not address the p for granted that socialism would automatically address people.
We had a lively discussion on these aspects of the poli differentiating between different types of nationalism. who are idealistic and want to change the Society they the same mistakes as we do. They are the children of ot
Let me put before you my experience of the past thirty may be relevant for raising some questions. I would ad in terms of successes and failures; we would fall into t politics by its ability to democratise the Society and decisions in their lives.
I will discuss three specific cases I have been intense human rights lawyer, I have always tried to look at my feminist with a streak of anarchism.
I am often faced with one question: how can I, who w; to communism, have Supported the Naga national secession? How do I reconcile my commitment to Ir how do I reconcile my commitment to secularism wi reconcile my commitment to anti-imperialism with Sup US and Western states against China?
Let me begin by telling you about the experience of wo
Naga national movement
The Nagas are a nation of more than forty tribes with geographically contiguous area which has been divi
territory. At one point the international boundary pass that half his home is in Burma and the other is in India,

21
ents, assessing, reassessing my work, trying to evaluate t we can still make relevant political interventions. The simply this: can our dream of building a world based on
5 this year on Indian Independence Day I invited some four-hour long film on neo-colonialism in Argentina black and white, intended to help political activists to
the rich, the decadence of their life styles, the racist ins, the exploitation of the country's economy and the and the universities have served the interests of neo2. And then there is a close up of Che, his face fills the
the film, wanting more discussion. But they were also m states that both nationalism and pan-nationalism are tance movement would have to awaken a national Coblem of defining national consciousness. It also took the problem of racial discrimination of the indigenous
tics and once again we were faced with the problem of I believe that there are many young men and women live in but they want to be sure that they do not make ur broken dreams.
years and try to honestly assess my work in a way that d a caveat. I do not think political work can be assessed he trap of our enemies if we did this. I would judge the | allow for greater participation of people in making
ly involved in. Although I was working primarily as a work within my wider political ideology of a socialist
as brought up by liberal nationalist parents sympathetic
movement and the Kashmiri Muslims fighting for dian nationalism with these anti-national movements; th my support for religious-based identities; how do I porting the Burmese movement which is backed by the
orking with the Nagas.
a population of approximately four million living in a ded by an international boundary cutting across their es Longwa village cutting through the chiefs house, so

Page 24
22
In independent India Naga homelands have been divid Arunachal Pradesh and Assam. The Naga national mo called Jadonang raised the slogan of Naga Raj. He w united under the leadership of Phizo's Naga National C per cent of the Nagas voted for an independent Naga demand for the unification of all Naga-inhabited territo
In 1958, the first parliament of independent India ena 1958. The act allows the Government to impose virtua forces take over the civil administration and have powe
From the 1950s Naga areas have been declared distul insurgency burnt down Naga villages and in the early been tortured to death or maimed for life; women ar Sacred premises of the churches; property has been de security forces. All this the armed forces have been scrutiny because the media has not been allowed to ent India.
The first time any Indian political activists intervene woman's fact-finding team to visit Ukhrul in Manipur organisation, the Naga Peoples Human Rights Movem
The women's fact-finding team visited the villages anc forces but two members of our team refused to sign th write against the Indian armed forces. One of them w other was the editor of a journal called Secular Democr
In July 1987 the Naga underground attacked an army thousands of rounds of ammunition. The Indian a Operation Bluebird, ostensibly to recover the arms and
Operation Bluebird lasted till the beginning of Octobe the savagery and brutality with which they carried out several men tortured to death, young girls raped and
women were forced to give birth to their babies in the C
The district authorities, including the deputy commiss entering the villages under army operation. The Chief Chief Minster wrote to the Home Minister about thi longer existed in the district.
The NPMHR asked me to file a petition against the ar for hearing. The case took more than four years to widespread human rights violations committed by the forced labour and destruction of homes, churches and the Human Rights Committee and for the first time In community.
In March 1992, we had the final hearing. Now we Wait it is now seventeen years that the people have been wai
What was the impact of this human rights work in Nag

ed into four states: Nagaland, Hill districts of Manipur, vement started in the early 1920s when a Naga leader is hanged by the British in 1931. Thereafter the Nagas ouncil and held a plebiscite in May 1951 in which 99.9 im. This plebiscite is the mandate for the movement's
ry.
cted the infamous Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, I military rule in an area declared disturbed. The armed rs to shoot, arrest, Search and seize.
bed. The security forces have in the name of counterdays they even bombed them. Thousands of men have ld young girls have been raped, sometimes inside the stroyed and educational institutions occupied by Indian able to do for more than three decades without any er, and human rights activists never reached this part of
d was in 1982, when a friend and I organised an all... We did this on the request of the Naga human rights ent and the local women's organisation.
i saw the horrendous crimes committed by our security e report on the ground that it would be anti-national to as a member of the Communist Party of India and the acy.
| post and walked away with a hundred weapons and my launched a counter-insurgency operation called ammunition.
r. They failed to recover the arms and ammunition but the operation left twelve babies and infants dead, with the economy of at least thirty villages destroyed. Two pen ground in full view of the soldiers.
ioner and Superintendent of Police were stopped from Minister of the State was also not allowed to enter. The 2 counter-insurgency operation and said civil rule no
med forces and, in October 1987, the petition came up finish. We had thousands of pages of evidence of Indian Security forces, including murder, torture, rape, schools. In 1991, we went to New York to lobby with dia was exposed before the international human rights
2d for the judgment. But the judgment never came. And ting for justice.
areas?

Page 25
First of all, the people who had been victims of the Inc felt their dignity was restored in some measure and th truth. They also got immediate relief because the arm and for the first time in decades the people could move
Secondly, we were able to get people across narrow pressure for the repeal of this Act.
Thirdly, in the course of the case we were able to buil created by the enforcement of the Armed Forces (Spe set up a review committee to look at the working of outside the Headquarters of the Assam Rifles at Imph; banner: "Rape us'. They were protesting against th uniformed men of the Assam Rifles.
We were also able to build up effective international National Human Rights Commission in 1993.
- In our campaign we always linked our fight against the
violations took place.
These were the positive gains of our campaign.
But the developments in the post-1989 world had the poured into this region and our work was appropriate continue to enlarge the democratic space the campaign
Slowly, the NPMHR became a small group of Nagas w the cause of rainforests in Brazil, show solidarity with Timor. The Naga activists had no time to take up cas they talk of building a world without borders and at nationalism.
The issue of repeal of armed forces special powers act
The NGOs depoliticised the issue with two devices:
(a) They took up the issue of human rights political context in which the violations to one Manipuri woman who has been on hu for the repeal of the Act; she has been re tubes; Indian human rights activists and v this woman than about the cause she has ta
(b) The NGOs promoted the concept of a civ movement. Thus the NGO which is accou between the movement and the Indian S corporations (including Transnational Cor
Similarly, the women or feminists were beginning to agencies. In the name of peace and non-violent conflic and other movements for self-determination. While t understanding of the role of the State in suppressing East.

23
lian armed forces' brutalities felt they had a voice, they ey felt that some Indians were willing to speak out the 2d forces removed many of the posts from the villages around freely.
party lines, cut across communities and build local
a nationwide awareness on the human rights situation -cial Powers) Act. The Central Government finally did the Act after Meitei women staged a dramatic protest ul where they took off their clothes and demanded on a le rape and murder of a Meitei political activist by
pressure and that forced the Indian state to set up the
violation of human rights with the context in which the
ir impact in North East India also. The foreign funds d by those who used it to further their careers and not had created.
tho got projects from foreign-funded agencies to further the Inuit in Greenland and go for conferences to East es of their people. They had gone international. Today the same time get funds by selling the cause of Naga
became a part of the Indian NGO agenda.
violations under the Act without speaking about the ok place; a dramatic illustration of this is the protest of inger strike for several years in support of her demand 'moved to the jail where she is force-fed by means of vomen's activists visit her but there is more talk about ken up;
il society and excluded from its purview any peoples' ntable only to its funders became the legitimate arbiter State; the repressive role of the state and the role of porations) disappear from the discourse.
intervene with an agenda set by international funding t resolution they attacked the Naga national movement hey focused on the effects of patriarchy, they had no the democratic aspirations of the peoples of the North

Page 26
24
Besides, on many an occasion there has been a conflic rights of the community. The problem of dealing w democratic framework based on individual rights is not
This is the core of the problem I have been grappling v and relevance of Article 29 of the Universal Declaratio
"Everyone has duties to the community in which alo possible.”
Coming back to the Naga national movement, let me rights, women's and indigenous peoples' movements And this was possible because all three could not built of the community and individual civil liberties could be
The universal language of human rights is a political t Social. On the other hand, postmodernism privileges p socialists and feminists have not paid sufficient atte effectively with the question of nationality and religion
The Naga national movement itself was incapable of d to use the NGOs but it discovered that they could n alternative vision or any vision at all, except to repeat th
The Indian state policy of divide and rule has also be The state even trained and armed militia groups who ha
The imposition of an education system which denied t and political history alienated Nagas from their own susceptible to co-option either by the state or the NGOs
However, none of this resolved the problem of insur Nagas and other communities in the North East felt Indian State.
In 1950, there was only one insurgency unified under taken inspiration from the Nagas but also arms training North East States; many of them had or have nexu accounts.
More recently, there have emerged more than twenty Is and many of the movements for self-determination hav
The North East of India has borders with Nepal, Bhuta is linked only with twenty-one kilometres of land called kilometres and the home of two hundred and twenty lai the Indian population.
The really disturbing fact is that there has been no me; of the peoples of North East. There is no vision for th insurgency plans designed to suppress the democratic
Glenn Jordan and Chris Weedon, Cultural Politics Class Gender a Sreeradha Datta, The Northeast Complexities and its determinants Delhi:2004

t between women's individual rights and the collective ith collective rights of communities within a liberal easy.
Vith. And yet we have to grapple with the full meaning h of Human Rights:
ne the free and full development of his personality is
say that the impact of the three movements - human - was to depoliticise the issue of Naga nationalism. d a political framework in which both collective rights
reconciled.
rap that naturalises individualism at the expense of the
plurality over power and effective resistance. I believe ntion to cultural politics and we are unable to deal
ealing with these developments. To begin with, it tried ot control the process. They failed to put forward an he slogan of unification of Naga areas.
en successful creating divisions on the basis of tribes. ve been committing brutalities with impunity.
he Nagas of a knowledge of their own social, cultural Society and created a class of intellectuals who were
gency in the North East because the vast majority of more and more alienated from Indian society and the
one organisation. Today the other tribes have not only g. There are several armed groups in each of the seven ises with the LTTE according to Indian intelligence
lamic armed organisations with a pan-Islamic ideology e alliances with these groups also.
in, China and Myanmar but with the Indian mainland it i the chicken neck. This was an area of 2,55,168 square nguages (1971 census) and consisted of three percent of
aningful debate on the issues, grievances and problems e development of the area except for detailed counteraspirations of the peoples of North East. This is all the
nd the Post Modern World. Blackwell, Oxford 1995, 1997. , Institute for defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) New

Page 27
more disturbing because the success of India's Look region.
There is an urgent need for public discussion and deb; are facing problems of political and cultural surviva discussions because society is heavily militarised, ind the militants silences even legitimate criticism.
In the rest of India the media is neither interested no lively debate on the nationality question in Assam in traditional left intelligentsia has taken an ultra-natio determination in the North East region. The Maoists ha to support a particular movement with a view to absor cultural and political context of the movement, thus de mainstream - the basic questions of cultural politics been to have political alliances which enhance the mil ideological clarity.
There is no political party either within the parliame development of the North East with its hundreds of tril of their culture, language and natural resources. Conf national movement is struggling to Survive. It began
reflecting the era of national liberation movements in th ideology it started to call itself either an indigenous pe in order to fit into the framework of the United Nations
The undermining of the ideology of nationalism has al identity more and more on the basis of the religion o The majority of Nagas are Baptist Christians, which i roots in the USA. Many Nagas belong to the Evange movement in America. It must also be said that the Inc in order to undermine the influence of China on the mo
What was I, a socialist feminist doing for the past thir for Christ'? In a line I believe I was and still am fight ever more authoritarian State.
I also believe that it is not the movement which has pu It is because the Indian state has been incapable of res other communities living in the North East, which has with no democratic channel to vent their grievances responds with arming itself with more powers.
It is interesting to note that every group or organisat terrorist laws started by raising their demand for langu in a non-violent, democratic fashion. They took to arn that the State responded.
Many of the armed groups have accepted invitatio transparent nor looked upon as an opportunity for reso undermine the movement through infiltration. The arm cause. Rather, they use the opportunity to arm th precedence over political organisation people get alie vulnerable to political corruption.

25
East Policy depends on the political stability of this
ate on the future of the North East communities which 1. Within the region it is very difficult to have open ependent media is almost non-existent and the fear of
r capable of raising relevant issues. There was once a the Economic and Political Weekly but since then the nalist stand on the question of movements for selfve taken broadly two kinds of political positions: one is bing its cadres into the party and ignoring the specific priving the people of its leaders who join the political remain unanswered. The second kind of response has itary capabilities of both groups but contribute little to
ntary system or outside it which has a vision for the bes, communities, nationalities fighting for the survival ronted with this complex political situation, the Naga with calling itself a movement for national liberation, he Third World. With the gradual erosion of its political oples' movement or a movement for self-determination
so pushed the Naga national movement to construct its f the Nagas, Christianity in opposition to Hindu India. is the most fundamentalist version of Christianity with :lical Union, which is spearheading the religious right iian state has also promoted this version of the religion Venet.
ty years fighting for people whose slogan is "Nagaland ing for democratic space, which is being closed by the
shed the Indian state into becoming more authoritarian. ponding to the democratic aspirations of the Nagas and resulted in militarisation of the region. The people left
are forced to take to armed resistance and the state
ion in the North East which is now banned under the age rights, forest rights or recognition of their homeland nS in the absence of any response, and it was only then
ins for dialogue but the peace processes are neither lving basic issues. The state uses it as an opportunity to ed groups also do not use peace to further their political emselves further. When military considerations take nated from the movement and the movement becomes

Page 28
26
There is little an individual or individuals can do. At S turn to history and try and understand how things cam people - give them back their history of resistance anc the task I am engaged in.
It may seem politically inconsequential to be involve political problems". However, my involvement was no I found especially after I married a Naga. However, I h develop a deeper understanding of the world around me
I would like to give you an example on how the India whereby the Indian state has broken its own laws in o please the Myanmar Junta.
Burmese freedom Fighters in Indian jail
At one time India supported the Burmese movement fo Kyi. At the time when the National League for Demo Burmese resistance and even gave shelter to the Bu award, the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for Internation However, today India supports the Myanmar Junta, the
The Burmese resistance had hoped for help from India done in Bangladesh. In fact a section of Burmese resist in Mizoram by India's external intelligence agency, minorities living in the Arakan State bordering Banglac State there is a substantial Muslim population called sovereign state of Arakan which would not include Mu
The Arakans have been allowed to have a base in insurgents. More recently, they were also providing in are sea insurgents and patrol the seas.
The Arakans had been lobbying for a base in India. TI they were to negotiate through an Indian military intelli
Grewal spoke Burmese very well and he was called Un in India. Between 1995 and 1997 the negotiations went would give them a base on Landfall Island, an uninh members of the Karen national Union also joined then set off sail for Landfall Islands in February 1998 with they could continue their resistance to the Myanmar Ju
When the Burmese landed at Landfall Island they we officer and they had a hearty meal. The next day Grew to the forest area where he said there was a helipad and
The Burmese freedom fighters saw their leaders di soldiers of the Indian army who blindfolded them an shots. Their leaders were killed and the remaining we fighters have been in jail since 1998 till today.
I have written about the campaign for the release of t India's Military Intelligence Officer Betrayed the Burm

such a time in history I believe the only thing left is to e to such a pass and share that understanding with the hope that it will help in their future struggles. That is
d with the Naga cause rather than address the "larger tentirely of my choosing; it was the circumstances that have found that working with Nagas has allowed me to
惠 めぐ。
n state's policy in the North East has led to a situation frder to keep Burmese freedom fighters in jail so as to
br restoration of democracy led by Daw Aung San Suu cracy won the elections in 1990, India did support the rmese student activists and bestowed India's highest al Peace and Understanding on the Burmese leader. most brutal regime in the world.
in liberating them from military dictatorship as it had ance, the Arakan army, had for long been given shelter the RAW. The Arakan are one of Burma's national lesh. The Arakans are Buddhists but within the Arakan the Rohingas. The Arakans have been fighting for a slims as equal citizens.
Mizoram in exchange for information on North East ntelligence inputs on the Chinese because the Arakans
ney were told that their request would be looked at but igence officer, Lt. Col Grewal.
cle by Arakans as well as other Burmese living in exile on and finally Grewal informed the Arakans that India abited island in the Andamans Sea. In the meanwhile and ultimately 36 Arakan and Karen freedom fighters the hope that they would soon have a base from which Mta.
are warmly greeted by the Indian military intelligence all asked the six most Senior officers to accompany him
Senior Indian army officers would land.
sappear behind the forest. They were surrounded by d tied their hands behind their backs. Then they heard cre taken to Port Blair and imprisoned. These freedom
hese 36 Burmese in a book called Rogue Agent: How nese Resistance. It was released earlier this year.

Page 29
One of the reasons why the Indian state and its support India supports the Burmese resistance movement t insurgency operations against North East insurgents democratic Indian State and the military Junta of Myar their borders are a threat to national unity and sovereign
While I was reading on the Burmese resistance mover minority nationalities in that country. The father of Bul uniting these national minorities under a truly democra of these nationalities and started a process which is cal was signed between the Burmese and leaders of the mi Aung San had a dream of building his country into a m federation.
Unfortunately he was murdered before he could enforc went back on the promise of a federal Burma. He de rights of Muslims. The alliance that Gen Aung San had
Today the Myanmar State is trying to suppress the Constitution on the country. They have removed the resistance fighters are forbidden from carrying photos c
On the other hand the minority nationalities have decic hands with the majority Burmese to fight for the restor. have formed the Ethnic Council of Burma and ur Constitution. However, the task is not easy for th Constitutional law and are at the mercy of their Wester of protecting collective rights.
The situation is further complicated by the fact that religious lines, mainly Buddhist and Christian. With organization. The continuous alienation of the Muslim of radical Muslim organisations. The most active amon the Arakan State of Burma bordering Bangladesh.
As I mentioned earlier, the majority of the 36 Burn Buddhist by faith and belong to the party called Nation the Arakan communist Party). NUPA was the only A with the Rohingas and the Arakan Rohinga National C opposition from other Arakan groups and the ARNO fa
Thus by keeping the NUPA leaders in jail the Ind organization which had built ties with the Rohingas.
In the course of our campaign for the release of the help from the Communist Party of India (Marxist). T Friendship Football match between the Mizzima Foot and East Bengal Football Club.
For the occasion of the football match we brought organisations for Solidarity messages. I approached a S surprise she said we were not to use any of her works it would jeopardise Indo-Myanmar Friendship

27
ers do not support our campaign is because they feel if he Myanmar Junta will not carry out any counter taking shelter in the jungles of Burma. Both the hmar share the view that nationality movements within ity of the State.
ment I came to know the history of the struggle of the rmese nationalism, General Aung San, had a vision for tic and federal Union of Burma. He invited the leaders led the Panglong process. The day the first agreement inority nationalities was celebrated as Union Day. Gen nodel federal state and then moving towards an Asiatic
e his ideas and the first Prime Minister of Burma U Nu 'clared Buddhism as the state religion and curbed the
so carefully built up was broken.
nationality movements and impose a highly centrist picture of Gen Aung san from the currency notes and f the Father of Burmese nationalism.
led to give up their demand for sovereignty and joined ation of democracy and for a truly federal Burma. They nder its banner are working towards an alternative ose who have no background in the intricacies of in advisers, who have neither commitment to nor vision
many of the nationality movements are split down
this split the Muslims find themselves without any communities in Burma has resulted in the emergence g the Muslim community are the Rohingas who live in
mese freedom fighters in jail in India are Arakanese, hal Union Party of Arakan (which includes members of rakan resistance group which tried to form an alliance )rganization (ARNO). The NUPA faced a great deal of ced similar opposition from Rohinga organisations.
lian state contributed to destroying the only Arakan
36 Burmese freedom fighters we got some unexpected he CPM even helped us organise a Bengali-Burmese ball team (consisting of Burmese refugee community)
out a brochure. We asked various individuals and cholar who has been writing on the Arakans but to my and she warned us that if we quoted her in our brochure

Page 30
28
I investigated into the matter and discovered that the friendship and our past civilisational ties going back
Buddhism. A senior member of our foreign office had close to the Hindus culturally as the Buddhists of th Foreign relations are built on such affinities.”
He goes on to admit that such an alliance would excl could play a role in promoting multiculturalism. I responsibility of promoting communal harmony was to official policy.
Of course the promoters of Hindu-Buddhist friendship refused to hand over the Bodh Gaya temple to the Budd
The Burmese freedom fighters are still in jail and there I presume the self censorship is in the national intere support to the cause of these freedom fighters. It is women's battalion for the Indian National Army. She w question her credentials. But she is nearing 96 and he books. Even our history books do not always incl departments of various universities have closed down. has also been closed.
I believe that many nationality movements are now turr Kashmir is a case in point.
Defending Kashmiri Muslim Militants
In 1998 the BJP won the national elections and for the centre. The entire atmosphere in our country changed permeated every part of the country.
On December 13, 2001 the Indian Parliament was atta attack were killed on the spot. However, four people Kashmiri Muslim men and the pregnant Sikh wife of or
One of the Kashmiri men was a lecturer in the Arabic I days of his arrest the teachers association of his college of severe punishment. The teachers association to wi police had filed the charge sheet.
The Delhi University Teachers Union, of which this le. Union led by the members of Communist Party of India
On the request of the lecturer's friend I took up the c SAR Geelani defence committee. Although the three K our campaign helped to get my client an acquittal.
The news of the acquittal was greeted with the same eu that in the midst of the war against terror and BJP rul accused of conspiring to attack the Indian Parliament.
It was not a miracle. The acquittal demonstrated th democratic space in our country that could be used. It crucial for any politics of resistance.

official friendship was to be based on Hindu-Buddhist to the times when Bengal was under the influence of written an article in which he said: "No peoples are so 2 world. There is a natural affinity between the two.
ude Muslims and Christians but he says that Muslims was shocked that anyone could argue that the sole rest with the community which was being excluded by
) forget that the Hindus for more than a century have hists... but let me not go into that story.
has been no response to my book on the issues raised. St. However, one Indian nationalist, has given all her
the legendary Lakshmi Sehgal who raised the first as the presidential candidate of the left and no one can ir kind of patriotism is now only preserved in history ude Subhas Chandra Bose and at least 18 history The history centre in the Ministry of external Affairs
ling to construct their identities on the basis of religion.
first time we had a Hindu right wing government at the and the politics of hate and the politics of fear had
cked. The five militants who actually took part in the were arrested for being part of the conspiracy - three le of the accused.
Department of a Delhi University college. Within a few demanded that he be suspended and given the severest nich he belonged had convicted him even before the
turer was a member, also condemned him. This was a (Marxist).
ise and organized a campaign under the banner of the ashmiri men were sentenced to death by the trial court
phoria as people greet a miracle. No one could believe e any court would actually acquit a Kashmiri Muslim
at despite all the political developments there was demonstrated that political strategies and tactics were

Page 31
On the day my client was acquitted we arranged a pri rights of the Kashmiri people. This angered many peop. fair trial. They advised him to be grateful for the acquit
How could we campaign for the fair trial of a person an
Even before the final acquittal by the Supreme Cour outside the house and the media reports made stateme involved in the assassination. There were reports that which we carried the injured man to hospital. No one pi
After my client was discharged from the hospital a loca Zakir Nagar, a predominantly Muslim inhabited local Hindu-Muslim unity. However, the police did not give a gathering of 10,000 people waiting to hear us, they reason they gave for this was that they feared there allegation they brought two bus loads of Hindutva act meeting. By this time we had a Congress Government.
While I had worked for four years for the release of Ge to self determination I found he had started forming al Sikh and Muslim which were fundamentalist. While I such political formations I could not be a party to such
By this time India had launched its own war against t parts of Society and 150 million citizens of my countr was no organization capable of responding to either the
Muslims then formed their own human rights organiza left parties and organizations entered into alliances wit what the ideological basis of these unprincipled alliance
I did try and raise these questions in my book "Frami Terror' but the book was ignored in my country ev political prisoners and has got favourable reviews in M year by Pakistan's "Dawn'.
After the Parliament case was over I visited Kashmir a a vibrant communist movement there, both in the Kashmiri nationalism and the Hindu communists ident communists stayed back and fought both fundamental who went to Pakistan for training came back disillusior
India has now moved closer to both Israel and to the U discrimination against Muslims and a total lack of poli numbers of Muslim youth towards political Islam.
Where is all this leading us?
Towards a vision for the future
At the time when Rajani was born there were barely € sovereign states and according to one study there are

29
ess conference and at that conference he spoke of the le who were erstwhile supporters of our campaign for a tal and to keep quiet.
d then deny him the right to freedom of speech?
t there was an attempt to assassinate my client right ‘nts insinuating that my husband and I were somehow there was no blood in either our house or in the car in otested against these insinuations.
l Municipal Councillor wanted to arrange a function in ity. He wanted to make the occasion a celebration of permission for the event and not only did they disperse
posted police with machine guns in every road. The would be a communal riot and in support of their ivists and posted them near the place of the proposed
'elani and was willing to support the right of Kashmiris liances of religious minority organizations, mainly the understood what were the forces that were leading to politics.
error. Every day Muslims were picked up in different y suddenly became vulnerable to State violence. There
political situation or even to the human rights crisis.
tions, political platforms and even a party. The various h these Muslim organizations but it was not at all clear
S WaS.
ng Geelani, Hanging Afzal: Patriotism in the Time of en though it has become popular among the Muslim Auslim media and was declared as the best book of the
nd visited many areas. I discovered that there had been Valley and in Jammu. But the communists betrayed ified themselves with the Indian state while the Muslim ists and Indian State repression. The Kashmiri militant led and turned to pan-Islam.
nited States. Its foreign policy coupled with large scale tical will to deal with the problem has pushed growing
0 members of the United Nations; today there are 195 5000 ethnic groups within these states. Some political

Page 32
30
geographers have predicted that towards the close degrees of sovereignty.
In India we had more than 500 different entities with our independence they were reduced to 15. Today the a reality. One mainstream political scientist has argu considerations India should have 58 states. He did nationalities in the North East.
In the final analysis the problem is related to power state does not provide material or cultural security. C and the democratic institutions do not allow for cont We have a situation where the state is becoming mo more communities. The response from the civil soci movements such as the feminist and human rights I agenda or marginalized by their inability to intervene
In an age of finance capitalism or globalization as it i: found unless we have an understanding of the internat
What is the international scenario? Let me sum it up he gives us a statisticians perspective on world politi population to a village of precisely 100 with all exist this:
There would be 57 Asians, 21 Europeans, 14 America
Seventy would be non-white and thirty white; seventy
Half of the entire world's wealth would be in the han the United States.
Seventy would be unable to read, 50 would suffer housing.
How would we form a movement or alliances to ch religion and nationalities would have to be addresse society where there would be no class exploitation, ca.
On a personal note I have found it so difficult to ba rights and movements for self-determination which h difficult to take up cases of religious fundamentalists came into power; and yet the compulsion of a human difficult part is the lack of space for dialogue with contradictions, I choose as many have done in the past
We are living in an age that writing has acquired a examining and building alternative theories for future
We have to test our political actions to ensure that t and cultural; and we have to continue to love plane believe that is the message of Rajani's life and wor opportunity to share my thoughts with you, on this ve to celebrate the spirit of all those who have the capa , those dreams.

of this century we will have 3000 states with varying
in the Dominion of India and within the first decade of 'e are 28 states and the 29" (Telengana) is fast becoming ed that if we are to go by the cultural and geographical not take into account the demands of various ethnic
sharing and the reproduction of minority cultures. The itizens do not have equal rights to cultural reproduction nuous renegotiation of power across ethnic boundaries. re and more authoritarian and thus alienating more and ety is most inadequate. Even secular, non-ethnic based movement have either got co-opted into the imperialist effectively in the political processes.
s called no solution to national political problems can be ional political scenario.
by quoting something from an Indian origin US citizen: 2s: writing in 2002 he says if we could shrink the earth's ing human ratios remaining the same, it would look like
ns (North and South) and 8 Africans.
would be non-Christian; 30 would be Christian.
is of only six people and all the six would be citizens of
from malnutrition and 80 would live in Sub Standard
ange this global village? I believe that the question of d within the broader movement aimed at fighting for a Steism, racism, patriarchy or cultural domination.
lance my socialist feminism with the politics of human ave so little space for women's rights; it is even more when you know that they would crush your ideals if they rights activist leads me to take up such cases. The most in the left movements; and so, torn between all these , the one option: writing.
special significance, both in the area of fiction and for political action.
hey further the cause of democracy, political, economic Earth and its citizens as much as we love our own. I c., and I am truly honoured that I have been given this y solemn occasion. I am sure you will use this occasion ity to dream and courage to fight for the realisation of

Page 33
Letter from Jaffna.
Dear Friends,
I have lost count of the days I don't know the day or the date I know that it's more than a month You want events, numbers, case histories? Not now, my mind is strangled I know it's strange, but, that is what I feel That is what we live Pain, agony and fear-always fear
I ask you, could you write straight when people die in lots? When you find them Dead like flies-not one, two left by the roadside
In Kopay, in town in Kokuvil, Rasaveethi, Urumpirai In here, over there Left on the hospital corridors, to the elements for the birds and dogs to scavenge? When doctors are removing shrapnel people shit outside? When you certify death and bury your neighbours in their own garden? When people-thousands and thousands always more than ten thousand are herded into kovils, churches and schools, for almost a month
A hell hole with a
teeming mass ..... When the beautiful sandy precincts of the temple become nothing but one whole shit dump
If night after night you lay under the table With your children, immobile Listening to the sound of boots Marching up and down Not even the candle you light For a shadow or even a sound could kill us all.
What else? We have no electricity We have no money The people hardly any food Our workplaces flattened out We have no functioning hospital No drugs, no fuel
Fear? Now we know of rape I'd like to get together with

Page 34
32
other women But I know of nobody All of us are scattered
The Indian army is everywhere Walking, in trucks In open vehicles, closed vehicles They are trying out the bicycles and enjoying our livestock Chickens, goats, everything "Came hunting tigers Catching goats now say the people
Any street you have walked Any building you have been in All have been shelled So thorough is the destruction The Indian army learns how to Smash an urban guerrilla movement Sure to come in handy.
On top of all
No one cares The Sri Lankan government, the Indian army Not the tigers, nor the other movements Today,
we are a trapped people. We are made to walk this suicidal trip Our great brave defenders and freedom fighters lure the enemy
right to our doorstep to the inside of the hospital, start a fight,
ignite a landmine, fire from each and every refugee camp, escape to safety, And then come the shells whizzing, whizzing, Bloody hell Tigers have withdrawn, while we the sacrificial lambs drop dead in lots
15 years of war
and now a hopeless halt Our society has no will to organise It is totally crumbled There isn't a single civilian structure to connect with The era has demised with
so much loss
and bitterness all round
- Rajani, November 1987

Page 35
  

Page 36