The Hindu : National : Prayers, tributes for Kadirgamar

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Sunday, Aug 13, 2006

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Prayers, tributes for Kadirgamar

Special Correspondent

CHENNAI: Inter-religious prayers and discourses marked the first death anniversary of the former Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka, Lakshman Kadirgamar, who was assassinated on August 12, 2005.

Speaking on the occasion, P. M. Amza, Deputy High Commissioner for Sri Lanka in Southern India, described Kadirgamar as "a colossus of our times and a politician who succeeded in internationalising the global menace of terrorism."

"He was an able Foreign Minister, patriotic Sri Lankan and a man who sincerely liked the community to which he belonged," Mr. Amza said. Recalling his keenness to have a "professional foreign service," the Deputy High Commissioner said Mr. Kadirgamar drew Sri Lanka's foreign policy with a motto `Friends to all and Enemy to none'. Mr. Kadirgamar brought international attention to the issue of "child soldiers, all of whom are young Tamil children, the future generation of Sri Lankan Tamils who were denied a normal life due to the forced conscription," Mr. Amza noted. "Even today, a large number of refugees, who are coming into Tamil Nadu, are coming with their children, to save them from the clutches of the LTTE," the diplomat added.

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