LANKALIBRARY FORUM

Sri Lanka's foreign minister assassinated
Tamil Tiger rebels suspected




The body of slain Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar is moved from Colombo National Hospital to the police morgue(@AFP/Str)













Kadirgamar and German foreign minister Fischer




Kadirgamar with Indian prime minister

Obituary: Lakshman Kadirgamar

BBC
Published: 2005/08/12 21:14:39 GMT

United States condemned "this terrible act of violence" - State Department

"It's the Tigers," - IGP

Sri Lankan foreign minister assassinated

Fri Aug 12, 2005 4:32 PM ET
© Reuters 2005.

By Arjuna Wickramasinghe and Simon Gardner

COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar was assassinated on Friday in an attack the police said they suspected was the work of Tamil Tiger rebels.

"The foreign minister passed away," Justice Minister John Senevirathne told reporters. "It is a great loss."

Government officials declined to comment on who was behind the shooting, but Inspector General of Police Chandra Fernando blamed it on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

"It's the Tigers," he told reporters early on Saturday. The Tigers were not immediately available for comment.

Kadirgamar, an ethnic Tamil, was a top adviser to President Chandika Kumaratunga in Sri Lanka's protracted peace process with the Tigers.

The Oxford-educated lawyer had traditionally taken a hard line on the Tigers, campaigning internationally against them and arguing against making concessions to them during the civil war.

The shooting comes amid escalating tensions between the government and the rebels, who have repeatedly threatened to resume a two-decade civil war because of a rash of violence in the island's restive east that each side blames on the other.

Kadirgamar, 73, was shot just before midnight on Friday and rushed to the National Hospital in Colombo.

The hospital was sealed off as ministers arrived in the early hours of Saturday to visit before leaving without comment.

RENEGADES

Police cordoned off roads around Kadirgamar's house. Heavily armed police officers fanned out into the plush central Colombo neighborhood, searching the area. Helicopters circled overhead.

Police sources said two people had been arrested but refused to give further details.

Kadirgamar's killing came a day after the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) warned that the government's refusal to hunt down and disarm renegades fighting a silent war with their cadres in the east of the island could rekindle a war that has already killed more than 64,000 people.

The Tigers accuse the military of helping a splinter faction led by a top former rebel commander called Karuna to kill their political and military members. They demand the government disarms them.

Dozens of rebel cadres, policemen and soldiers have been killed since a truce was agreed in 2002, and some diplomats and analysts fear the violence could spiral into an all-out war.

The Tigers have repeatedly warned that their patience is at breaking point and the truce in danger of collapse.

In Washington, a State Department official said the United States condemned "this terrible act of violence."

"We call on Sri Lankan citizens to remain calm and to continue on the path of peace," he said.


© Reuters 2005.

Suspected Tiger rebels kill Sri Lanka's foreign minister, emergency declared

Copyright © 2005 Agence France Presse

COLOMBO (AFP) - Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, an outspoken critic of the Tamil Tigers, was assassinated by suspected rebel snipers, prompting the government to declare a state of emergency.

Kadirgamar, 73, was shot in the head and chest late Friday night at his tightly-guarded residence in the capital Colombo and died soon after in hospital, said army chief Shantha Kottegoda and hospital sources.

The killing dealt another blow to the shaky Sri Lankan peace process, and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan led international condemnation of what he called a "criminal and senseless" murder.

In Colombo, soldiers started door-to-door searches for the snipers, while police set up road blocks and air force helicopters circled the night sky.

President Chandrika Kumaratunga declared a state of emergency, giving sweeping powers to security forces to arrest and detain suspects.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who have led a two-decade campaign for a separate homeland within the island-nation, were the prime suspects in the slaying of Kadirgamar, military spokesman Daya Ratnayake said.

"We strongly suspect the Tigers because he had threats from the LTTE," Ratnayake said. "Two weeks ago, too, we arrested two suspected LTTE men who had been spying on the minister."

Ratnayake said the authorities were, however, keeping an "open mind" in the investigation that would be led by police chief Chandra Fernando.

There was no immediate reaction from the LTTE.

The assassination further imperils a three-year-old ceasefire that has already been rocked by increased violence in recent months.

"It's completely insane, it is a major setback for the peace process," said Erik Solheim, the top Norwegian envoy trying to engineer a lasting peace deal between the government and the LTTE.

"The identity (of the assassins) is not clear, but it is evident that suspicion will fall first on the Tamil Tigers," he told AFP in Oslo.

Kadirgamar had been a key figure in Kumaratunga's government, leading an international campaign against the Tigers, who have been outlawed in several countries, including the United States and Britain.

Oxford-educated Kadirgamar had been foreign minister under Kumaratunga since 1994, with a break between 2001 and 2004, and claimed credit for getting the Tigers declared a terrorist organisation abroad.

The minister had attended an official function Friday and driven back to his home in Colombo's upmarket Cinnamon Gardens district for a swim when he was shot twice despite a high level of guards posted at his home, officials said.

The veteran minister was rushed to the National Hospital, where four neurosurgeons and cardiothoracic surgeons struggled for 70 minutes to save his life, hospital spokeswoman Pushpa Soysa told AFP.

Kadirgamar was the most senior Sri Lankan leader to be assassinated since a bomb attack killed president Ranasinghe Premadasa in May 1993.

A close confidante of Kumaratunga, he was one of the most tightly guarded ministers in the Sri Lankan cabinet and had nearly 100 elite bodyguards deployed to protect him.

Only days earlier police had drawn up plans to further improve Kadirgamar's security with the deployment of additional guards.

Kumaratunga herself escaped an assassination attempt but lost her right eye in the December 1999 bomb attack blamed on the Tigers.

She however went on to invite Norway to help bring the rebels to the peace table in January 2000, leading to the ceasefire agreed three years ago.

Kadirgamar, himself a member of the minority Tamil community and a native of Jaffna, the heartland of Tamil separatism in the island's north, was a vociferous opponent of the Tamil Tiger rebels.

The Tigers refused to acknowledge him as a member of their community and dubbed him a traitor to their cause of setting up a separate homeland for mainly Hindu Tamils within majority-Buddhist and Singhalese Sri Lanka.

A friend lost, but Lanka ties to remain intact


Political Bureau
© 2005: Indian Express Newspapers

New Delhi August 13 The brutal assassination of Lanka foreign minister Laxman Kadirgamar in Colombo on Friday night has not only jeopardised the ceasefire between LTTE and Sri Lankan government but could also force India to make a fresh assessment of security implications in its southern neighbourhood. Foreign policy watchers, however, do not believe Mr Kadirgamar’s death will really impact Indo-Lankan relations. According to Professor SD Muni, foreign policy expert and a friend of Mr Kadirgamar, the late foreign minister had done a lot to strengthen bilateral relations between India and Sri Lanka and hopefully his successor will be deeply involved in continuing with this relationship.

“Kadirgamar’s assassination inflicted a major blow to President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s government, which strongly depended on him to bargain peace with Tamil rebels,’’said Ranjit B Rai, independent security analyst.

Mr Rai was of the firm belief that Mr Kadirgamar was unlike some others who were more hawkish in seeking India’s support for Sri Lanka’s internal peace process, therefore this is a loss to India besides the great loss to Sri Lanka.

Former Indian high commissioner to Sri Lanka, NN Jha felt that Kadirgamar’s passing away won’t affect bilateral relations as the entire Sri Lankan leadership is committed to good relations with New Delhi. “This could embolden the LTTE and may give them the upper hand in negotiations with the government. But at the same time it would turn world opinion against them.” he said. The Indian government has strongly condemned the assassination of Mr Kadirgamar and reiterated New Delhi’s “constant and undiluted’’ support for the Island nation’s unity and territorial integrity.

Hoping that the perpetrators of this terrorist crime would be brought to justice, a statement issued by the external affairs ministry said India would extend its full support to ’’our friendly neighbour’’ in this hour of need.

URL: http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full ... t_id=99279

SAARC meetings postponed after Lankan FM’s death

Daily Times Monitor

LAHORE: Pakistan on Saturday announced the postponement of the 31st session of the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Standing Committee and 26th session of the SAARC Programming Committee, Geo news channel reported. Talking to the channel, Foreign Office Spokesman Naeem Khan said the meetings were earlier scheduled to be held in Islamabad on August 16 to18. He said that new dates for the meetings would be announced in consultation with member countries and the SAARC Secretariat. “This decision of postponement has been taken out of respect for the late Lakshman Kadirgamar, who made a valuable contribution as a member of the SAARC Council of Ministers in strengthening the SAARC process,” Khan said. He said the Pakistani government condemned his murder as an act of terrorism. Khan said Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri would represent Pakistan at Kadirgamar’s state funeral in Colombo on August 15.

Musharraf aggrieved over Lankan FM’s death: President General Pervez Musharraf offered his condolence over the assassination of Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar and called the killing an act of terrorism, reports APP.

Lakshman Kadirgamar was killed by sniper fire at his home on Friday. In a message to Sri Lankan President Chandrika Bandaranike Kumaratunga, Musharraf said, “the tragic assassination of Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar has greatly shocked and saddened us.” He extended his sympathy to the Sri Lankan President and the people of Sri Lanka over their national loss. He said that Lakshman Kadirgamar would be remembered for his vision and sagacity. “His contribution in securing peace in his country and in the region has earned him a permanent place in history”, he said.

Chandrika moved to tears

Colombo, Aug. 13 (Reuters): President Chandrika Kumaratunga broke down as doctors battled to save her foreign minister Lakshman Kadirgamar after he was shot, an official said today as Sri Lanka woke up to its latest political killing.

Television anchors wore white, the traditional colour of mourning, and shocked Sri Lankans queued up to buy newspapers reporting the minister’s assassination. Kadirgamar, an Oxford-educated lawyer, never contested an election and never addressed a rally in a decade-long political career.

“It was such a shock, I am still recovering. He was undoubtedly Sri Lanka’s best statesman ever,” said Shanthini Anthony, a 32-year old university lecturer, who like Kadirgamar is from Sri Lanka’s minority Tamil community. Kadirgamar was instrumental in getting the Tigers outlawed as a terrorist organisation by the US and Britain and was long seen as a prime target. A team of over 100 elite commandos and soldiers stood guard around him everywhere he went. It was not immediately clear how his killer found a window.

“I was absolutely shocked. There was this business of him being a target, but I never expected this to happen,” lamented Dr D.A.A. Perera as he read the morning newspaper.

Kumaratunga cried as surgeons at Colombo’s National Hospital tried to save Kadirgamar's life, a junior minister said on condition of anonymity. Kadir, as he was known to the media and his friends, was a top adviser to Kumaratunga in a protracted effort to bring about a permanent peace with the Tigers, whose two-decade war for a separate state is in limbo thanks to the ceasefire.

Hardliners from his own Tamil community called him a traitor. “His acts were considered to be treacherous towards the Tamils from the very beginning,” said M.K. Sivajilingam, a MP for the Tiger-backed Tamil National Alliance.

Sri Lanka admits security lapse

13/08/2005 21:57 - (SA)
@News24.com

Colombo - Sri Lankan security authorities admitted a security lapse on Saturday after the nation's foreign minister, Lakshman Kadirgamar, was assassinated by snipers' bullets.

Police chief Chandra Fernando said the killers, believed to be two, shot the minister at his home on Friday from the upstairs bathroom of a neighbouring house which had not been adequately checked out by the authorities.

"We are not able to cover all angles," Fernando added.

Kadirgamar, 73, a leading critic of the Tamil Tiger rebels who were immediately blamed for the attack, was shot in his head and chest on Friday evening and died later in hospital.

The Tigers, who have been waging a three-decade campaign for a separate Tamil homeland, have denied involvement in the killing of Kadirgamar, who was gunned down after emerging from the swimming pool at his home in a posh quarter of the capital Colombo.

Kadirgamar, an ethnic Tamil who was a strong critic of the rebels, had been seen as a prime target for attack by the guerrillas and was the most tightly guarded minister in the cabinet after President Chandrika Kumaratunga.

Fernando said Kadirgamar had rejected police advice that he leave his home for security reasons. He said he had surveyed the area recently and felt it was unsafe and also had received intelligence information that it was insecure.

State of emergency

"I myself told him a few days ago it wasn't safe for him to stay in this house, but he insisted because he wanted to go there for a swim and he had his library there," Fernando said.

"We also had the problem with this VVIP (Very, Very Important Person) because he did not want us to search his neighbours," he added.

Fernando said six rounds of spent 7.62 millimetre ammunition were found at the crime scene along with a 40-millimetre grenade launcher which was not used in the attack.

Some 1 000 policemen had been deployed to search the area to track down the murder weapons, Fernando said.

Earlier, a senior police officer said the shooting raised questions about intelligence gathering and the screening of the ministers' neighbours as the snipers were said to have shot Kadirgamar from a house just two doors away.

"Security was mainly focused on protecting the minister when he was travelling," said the police officer, who asked to remain anonymous. "Three days ago there was a move to increase the number of vehicles in his motorcade."

The minister had over 100 bodyguards assigned from the military as well as the elite Ministerial Security Division. They were backed up by intelligence units of the police and the army.

President Kumaratunga, who narrowly escaped assassination in a suicide bombing blamed on Tiger rebels in December 1999, declared a state of emergency after Kadirgamar's killing.