The third death anniversary of former Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, who headed the LTTE hit-list primarily for his efforts to get the LTTE banned as a terrorist organization in many countries including the United States and the United Kingdom, falls today.

Lakshman Kadirgamar assassinated at his home in Colombo on August 12, 2005 was both a Tamil and an ardent opponent of the LTTE.

Minister Kadirgamar a distinguished product of Trinity College, Kandy read for his LLB degree at the University of Colombo and later proceeded to Balliol College, University of Oxford where he read for a degree in Letters.

At Oxford he became the President of the Oxford Union and won the august seat of learning’s Cricket Blue. In 2004 he was elected a Honourary Fellow of Balliol, and in 2005 his portrait was unveiled at the Oxford University. He became the only second Asian to be elected as an Honorary Bencher of Inner Temple, one of the four ancient Courts of Great Britain in its 496 year history, after former Malaysian Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahaman in 1974 as Foreign Minister, he called for tough action against terrorists, not just within Sri Lanka, but also internationally. Tamil intellectual Keetheshwaran Loganathan who was also assassinated by the LTTE on August 12, 2006 was the former Deputy Secretary General of the Peace Secretariat.

Late Foreign Minister Kadirgamar and Keetheswaran were among the many prominent political intellectuals killed by LTTE including late Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa, Tamil intellectual Neelan Thiruchelvam and many more.