Lakshman Kadirgamar ; Legal and Political Career

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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.[pic 3]

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 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.

After one year from his assassination, The Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute of International Relations 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.