LKI Remembers Late Hon. Lakshman Kadirgamar on his 18th Death Anniversary

August 12, 2023    Reading Time: 2 minutes

Reading Time: 2 min read

The Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute of International Relations and Strategic Studies (LKI) organized an almsgiving today, 12 August, 2023, to invoke merit to the late Foreign Minister Hon. Lakshman Kadirgamar, PC and commemorate the 18th anniversary of his passing.

Delivering the anusasana (sermon), the Chief Incumbent of the Sri Sambodhi Viharaya, Colombo, Ven. Boralande Vajiraggnana Thero, paid tribute to the life and legacy of the Late Hon. Lakshman Kadirgamar. He stated that the late Minister lived a life of humility and dedication and remained committed to high principles.

Foreign Minister Hon. M. U. M. Ali Sabry, PC, MP, senior officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and staff of LKI participated in this ceremony.

Hon. Lakshman Kadirgamar was born in Colombo on 12 April 1932. He completed his secondary education at Trinity College, Kandy, where he excelled in academics and in a wide range of sports, including cricket, rugby, and athletics. In 1950, he studied law at the University of Ceylon and graduated with a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree in 1953. Lakshman Kadirgamar was admitted to the Ceylon Bar in 1955. He later pursued his graduate studies at Balliol College, University of Oxford, where he became President of the Oxford Union in 1959 and obtained a Bachelor of Letters (B.Litt.) in 1960. He pursued legal practice both in Sri Lanka as an Advocate and the UK as a Barrister of the Inner Temple and was appointed as a President’s Counsel in 1991. In 2004 he was appointed as an Honorary Bencher of The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple.

The late Hon. Lakshman Kadirgamar held the office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs for over a decade and is one of the most respected political leaders in Sri Lanka’s recent history. He held the position of Foreign Minister until his assassination by the LTTE on 12 August, 2005.

To coincide with the 18^th death anniversary of the Late Hon. Lakshman Kadirgamar, LKI launched a flagship ‘LKI Foreign Policy Forum’ for a quarterly dedicated discussion on a contemporary issue of foreign policy relevance. At the launch of this series, on 09 August, 2023, the Executive Director of LKI, Ambassador Ravinatha Aryasinha stated that “While the Late Minister left an indelible legacy through his actions in protecting Sri Lanka’s national interest with distinction both here and abroad – and in that quest had to pay the supreme sacrifice, the Sri Lanka Institute of Strategic Studies which he initiated in 2000, later to be re-named the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute of International Relations and Strategic Studies (LKI) in 2006, was a key element of his vision to build an institution that could contribute towards the furtherance of Sri Lanka foreign policy in a sustainable manner.”