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Lakshman Kadirgamar Legal and Politi-Cal Career

Mr. Lakshman Kadirgamr was truly patriot who was determined to serve his country giving up his lucrative law practice. He utilised rational thought and eloquence to warn the world about threats to its freedom. Once he said “It is absolutely no good for any country to say ‘it is not our problem; thank heaven, it is somebody else’s problem’. You can’t say that any more…because the terrorist who was sitting on somebody else’s doorstep yesterday could be on our doorstep tomorrow.” He was person with such great thoughts and did much more than just warn the world during his time as our Foreign Minister. He took action both at home and abroad to deal with the plague of terrorism. This proves that he was the finest Foreign Minister Sri Lanka had ever seen. And his death not only deprived our country of a man of courage and enlightened counsel but also of a man who could have contributed immensely to post war Sri Lanka.

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46 views3 pages

Lakshman Kadirgamar Legal and Politi-Cal Career

Mr. Lakshman Kadirgamr was truly patriot who was determined to serve his country giving up his lucrative law practice. He utilised rational thought and eloquence to warn the world about threats to its freedom. Once he said “It is absolutely no good for any country to say ‘it is not our problem; thank heaven, it is somebody else’s problem’. You can’t say that any more…because the terrorist who was sitting on somebody else’s doorstep yesterday could be on our doorstep tomorrow.” He was person with such great thoughts and did much more than just warn the world during his time as our Foreign Minister. He took action both at home and abroad to deal with the plague of terrorism. This proves that he was the finest Foreign Minister Sri Lanka had ever seen. And his death not only deprived our country of a man of courage and enlightened counsel but also of a man who could have contributed immensely to post war Sri Lanka.

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shawn lee
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LAKSHMAN KADIRGAMAR ; LEGAL AND POLITI-

CAL CAREER

Subsequent to leaving Oxford Mr. Lakshman Kadirgamar had a successful career as an interna-
tional lawyer in Geneva. Upon retiring from his legal career there, he returned to Sri Lanka and be-
gan practising commercial, industrial and administrative law. In 1963, Amnesty International en-
forced him with the task of investigating the Buddhist-led resistance campaign that year against the
regime in South Vietnam. During the period from 1974 to 1976 Kadirgamar served as a consultant
in the International Labour Organization. Following that he worked in the World Intellectual Prop-
erty Organization (WIPO), where they appointed him as the Director for Asia and the Pacific in
1983. Kadirgamar wrote many scholarly articles for international legal journals like the Modern
Law Review, South African Law Journal and Conveyancer and Property Lawyer. After that in 1988
he came back to Sri Lanka and resumed his legal career there and was appointed as the President's
Counsel in 1991. His legal background must have influenced in his view of democracy since his ac-
tions were always based on rational evaluation rather than emotion.

In 1994, Peoples Alliance (PA) nominated him as national list MP on the list of candidates for the
General Election and was appointed Foreign Minister under President Chandrika Kumaratunga fol-
lowing the victory of PA. He was active in his post till 2001. During his reign did his best as a patri-
otic citizen in banning the LTTE banned internationally and ultimately was able list the LTTE as a
terrorist organisation and deprive them of the funding they got from The United States and the
United Kingdom. Despite being a Tamil, he was highly critical of the attempts to negotiate with the
Tamil Tigers and of the Ceasefire Agreement be-
tween the government and the Tamil Tigers. In 2001
when the government was defeated he worked as an
adviser on foreign affairs to President Kumaratunga.
His belief was that we should fight ultimately to build
a lasting peace in our country that can only come
about by welding the communities together not
driving by them apart.

Among his many international achievements, being


appointed as Vice-chairman (19971999) and later
Chairman (20032005) of the Indian Ocean Rim As-
sociation for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC) was
of great significance. He was able to become a Chair
of the South Asia Foundation (SAF), a non-governmental organisation from 1999 onwards. And
was active as Chair of the Council of Ministers of the South Asian Association for Regional Coop-
eration (SAARC) from 1998 to 2000. And before entering into politics he held the post of the Di-
rector of the United Nations Intellectual Property Organisation, where he was responsible for the
drafting of legislation of nineteen states.

Most significant of the many honours that he received are being appointed as the Honorary Bencher
of Inner Temple, of Great Britain which possesses a 496 year history. He was the only second Asian
to achieve this status after former Malaysian Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahaman in 1974. This
was truly the most glorious achievement in his legal career.
In 2001 the Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka awarded him
an Honorary DLitt.
And in 2004 he was appointed as an Honorary Fellow of Balliol
College, University of Oxford.
Even after his death the Government of Sri Lanka awarded him
the highest national honour Sri Lankabhimanya for he was truly a
person who served his country not caring for his own life.
Mr. Lakshman Kadirgamr was truly patriot who was determined to serve his country giving up his
lucrative law practice. He utilised rational thought and eloquence to warn the world about threats to
its freedom. Once he said It is absolutely no good for any country to say it is not our problem;
thank heaven, it is somebody elses problem. You cant say that any morebecause the terrorist
who was sitting on somebody elses doorstep yesterday could be on our doorstep tomorrow. He
was person with such great thoughts and did much more than just warn the world during his time as
our Foreign Minister. He took action both at home and abroad to deal with the plague of terrorism.
This proves that he was the finest Foreign Minister Sri Lanka had ever seen. And his death not only
deprived our country of a man of courage and enlightened counsel but also of a man who could
have contributed immensely to post war Sri Lanka.

After one year from his assassination, The Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute of International Rela-
tions and Strategic Studies, a think tank on international affairs, was established in his memory.
Also a statue of Kadirgamar has been erected at the Liberty roundabout in Colombo.

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