Lakshman Kadirgamar

Sri Lankabhimanya Lakshman Kadirgamar, PC (லக்ஷமன் கதிர்காமர்; ලක්ෂ්මන් කදිර්ගාමර්, 12 April 1932 – 12 August 2005) was a Sri Lankan lawyer and statesman.

He was the winner of the Senior Batting Prize in 1948, a Rugger Coloursman in 1948 and 1949, Trinity Athletics Lion in 1949, and winner of the first Duncan White Challenge Cup for Athletics in 1948.

At Trinity, he captained the college first eleven cricket team in 1950 while also competing in the college athletics and rugby teams.

He played in the annual Bradby Shield Encounter.

In recognition of his all-round performance in academic and extra curricular spheres, he was awarded the prestigious Ryde Gold medal for the best all round student of 1950.

He was also the Senior Prefect of Trinity College.

In 1950 Kadirgamar went on to study law at the University of Ceylon in Colombo and the year after in Peradeniya, from which he graduated with a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) (Honors) degree in 1953.

Kadirgamar was the holder of the All India Inter University 110-metre hurdles title in both 1951 and 1952.

He was the top student with a First Class at the Advocates Intermediate Examination in 1953 of the Ceylon Law College.

In 1954 he won the scholarship for the candidate placed first in the First Class at the Advocates Final Examination of the Ceylon Law College and was awarded prizes for the Law of Evidence and the Law of Persons and Property.

In 1955 he took oaths as Advocate of the Supreme Court of Ceylon.

He thereafter served as the private secretary to Justice Noel Gratiaen, Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court.

Thereafter he won a scholarship to Balliol College, Oxford, where he studied from 1956 to 1959, receiving in 1960, his BLitt degree from the University of Oxford.

His thesis was on "Strict Liability in English and Roman-Dutch Law".

Lakshman Kadirgamar served as the President of Oxford Union in 1958-59.

He achieved international prominence in this position due to his wide-ranging condemnation of the LTTE (Tamil Tigers) and his efforts to have them banned internationally.

In November 1958 he applied successfully to become a barrister of Inner Temple, London.

Upon leaving Oxford, he took up a legal career.

He returned to Ceylon and built up a practice in commercial, industrial and administrative law.

He was part of the defense team of the accused of the coup d'état that was attempted in 1962.

In 1963, he was commissioned by Amnesty International to investigate the Buddhist-led resistance campaign that year against the regime in South Vietnam.

This was the first-ever report for Amnesty of a situation in an individual country.

Kadirgamar left Ceylon in 1971 following the JVP insurrection that year, moving to England, practising in London for three years.

Going on to work for international organisations in Geneva, Kadirgamar served in 1974-6 as a consultant for the International Labour Organization (ILO).

Then in 1976 he took up an appointment with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), in which he was appointed in 1983 to the newly created post of Director for Asia and the Pacific.

Kadirgamar was the author of a number of scholarly articles published in international legal journals such as the Modern Law Review, South African Law Journal and Conveyancer and Property Lawyer.

He was serving as Director, Industrial Property Division and Director, Development Cooperation and External Relations Bureau for Asia and the Pacific at WIPO until he was overlooked for the post of Deputy Director General.

He resigned in May 1988.

In 1988 he returned to Sri Lanka and resumed his legal career there.

In 1991 he was appointed President's Counsel.

He served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka from 1994 to 2001 and again from April 2004 until his assassination in August 2005.

A distinguished lawyer and international humanitarian, he was assassinated by an LTTE sniper in August 2005 Accounts of his views on politics and international relations, with much information about his life and career, can be found in the book Democracy, Sovereignty and Terror: Lakshman Kadirgamar on the Foundations of International Order, edited by Professor Adam Roberts.

Lakshman Kadirgamar was born in Manipay, Jaffna District.

He hailed from a Tamil family; his father was Samuel J.C.Kadirgamar Sr, JP, UM, a Proctor, who was the President of the Colombo Proctor's Association and the founder President of the Law Society of Ceylon.

His mother was Edith Rosemand Parimalam Mather.

He had four older brothers: S.J.C.Kadirgamar Jr., QC, who became an eminent lawyer in commercial law; Rear Admiral Rajan Kadiragamar who became the head of the Royal Ceylon Navy and Major Selvanathan "Bai" Kadirgamar of the Ceylon Artillery, Thirumalan "Mana" Kadirgamar, a planter who died very young in a motor bike accident.

His mother died when he was seven years old and he was looked after by his older sister Eeswari who married Dr. A.M.D. Richards.

Kadirgamar received his primary education at C.M.S. Ladies' College, Colombo and moved with his sister to Matale in the war years, where her husband was posted to.

He decided to attend Trinity College, Kandy as a boarder for his secondary education even though all his brothers had attended Royal College, Colombo.

It was a common practice to board children in places away from Colombo as Colombo was under the threat of bombing by Japanese.