Dr. Raja Johnpulle – A tribute

Prof. Ravindra Fernando

(October 13, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) It was a pleasant evening in mid-October 2001. I was waiting in the first floor lobby of Sirikotha, the headquarters of United National Party (UNP), with dozens of other party activists to meet Ranil Wickremesinghe, to seek nominations to contest the general elections.

I was pleased to see there another senior colleague of mine, Dr. Raja Johnpulle. We have met before at many medical meetings and socially. Perhaps he was surprised to see me in Sirikotha too. He called me. “What are you doing here?” he queried.

“I came to meet the leader to get nominations for Panadura,” I replied. Saying “Come, I want to speak to you,” he called me to a corner of the lobby and found two chairs to sit. I was really pleased and expected some good advice from Dr. Johnpulle to conduct my first election campaign successfully.

Instead, for about half an hour, soft-spoken Dr. Johnpulle explained to me why I should go home rather than to the leader’s room!

“Ravindra, politics today is not for people like you. You have to carry a T56 in one hand and a hand grenade in the other to do politics today,” he said. He reminded me the difficulties and hostilities he was facing in Anuradhapura. He said that he has decided not to contest and asked me also to drop my idea of contesting. Agreeing with him about Anuradhapura, I told him that Panadura is a peaceful electorate and my political opponents will not practice violence, because I personally know them.

Despite his fatherly advice, I went to the leader’s room and joined the election campaign.
Dr. Johnpulle, who has served the people of Rajarata for over three decades and served the country as an elected representative of the people and an Ambassador, had to pay the supreme price with his life for democratic politics. His beloved wife, who accompanied him almost everywhere, lost her life too.

When I phoned him after the violent mob destroyed his house last month, a dejected Dr. Johnpulle said, “I am all right but lost everything except what I am wearing.”
Apart from the national hero Major General Janaka Perera, who is from my home town Panadura, and his wife, many others, who are sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, brothers, and sisters, lost their lives. They were good, decent, peace loving citizens of this country.

Major General Janaka Perera’s wife, Vajira, also worked as a Research Officer in the Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, before she joined the Army.

I was also saddened by the death of A.C.S. Hameed and his wife Chandani, two lawyers who joined the first Diploma in Forensic Medicine and Science Course for lawyers, which I initiated over a decade ago. Hameed gave lifts to Chandani to travel from Anuradhapura to Colombo every Saturday to attend the classes for three terms. This led to a romance and a few years later Chandani called me to say that she married Hameed!

Every single life is important. Today, we are losing lives of useful citizens of this country who have served it and its people. How long are we going to see this?

The death of a senior professional colleague like Dr. Johnpulle is the unacceptable but inevitable truth of continued terrorism. May he rest in peace! - Sri Lanka Guardian