THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The family of former Malayali diplomat Kokkat Sankara Pillai who was shot dead inside the Indian High Commission in Ottawa, Canada, in 1961 by a mentally deranged person is finally getting a sort of justice. On his 60th death anniversary falling on April 19, the Indian government will be naming the Chancery Waiting Hall of the Indian High Commission as ‘Pillai Memorial Hall’. It will also display a plaque providing a brief citation on the then 39-year-old diplomat who did the supreme sacrifice for the country. A tree will also be planted on the chancery premises in his memory.
The family members of the former diplomat decided to hold a remembrance day in Kerala on the 60th year of his demise. A WhatsApp family group saw Shalini Pradeep, one of the nieces of the slain diplomat, urging the family members to share their memories of him. Sankara Pillai’s daughter, Radha Nair, who is in her mid-70s, told TNIE that among those who wrote tributes about her father included former diplomat T P Srinivasan, who was, in fact, motivated to take up the foreign service only due to Sankara Pillai.
“If not for TPS, rekindling my father’s memories would not have happened. He took up the issue before the authorities. We are hugely indebted to him and also the Central government for planning to name the Chancery Waiting Hall in memory of my father, setting up a plaque, planting a tree and also holding a webinar on April 19,” said Radha, a resident of Jawahar Nagar in Thiruvananthapuram. She said her father was the “first martyr of the Indian Foreign Service”.
Though it is almost six decades since the incident happened, the memories are still vivid for Radha. She recalls that the incident caused a short-lived furore in India which saw the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru informing Parliament that Sankara Pillai had left behind a seven-month-pregnant wife and two young children, aged 15 and five.
“We never approached the government for any special consideration though he was killed in the line of duty. Nor did anyone volunteer to take up the matter at higher levels until now. My brothers Krishnan, Sankara and I finally feel that justice has been done to our father’s memory,” she added.