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Kadir vows to protect Lanka’s sovereignty
Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar re-iterated his "total commitment" to a sovereign and undivided Sri Lanka saying that despite his limitations due to the office he holds, he would do "everything he can" to ensure the territorial integrity of the country.

Speaking at a well-attended ceremony at the BMICH last Sunday to launch the new book by Malinga H. Gunaratne, 'Tortured Island', Mr. Kadirgamar said he believed in -- and would do everything he could -- to ensure the territorial integrity of the country, and prevent the country from being divided.
"There may be shades of opinion, nuances, about how this is to be done, but the principle cannot be compromised. That is not only my belief, but that is what I will work to achieve as best as I can with all the limitations that somebody in my position is subjected to," he said.

He told the packed hall that the essential kernel of what he believed in remained absolutely intact over the 10 years he had served as the Foreign Minister, but that he had lost the freedom to speak freely -- as he did when he was a lawyer.

Paying a tribute to the author, whom he said he had known for 40 years, Mr. Kadirgamar said they spent many hours in many parts of the country talking. "Those were not days we talked about politics. They were much calmer days than today and we talked about men and matters and this and that ".
"The Herman I knew then was a wonderful raconteur. He was full of stories true and otherwise and I noticed as the years went on the stories would get delightfully embellished but that was all part of his wonderful makeup. I must say I did not suspect in those days that he would be able to convey that wonderful gift he had of story telling into writing.

That quality I did not suspect. For no other reason but this that I did not think, that my friend Herman, delightful companion though he was had the discipline for writing".

He said the book 'Tortured Island' is a story told "grippingly well and what makes his argument so attractive is that it is so readable. There is nothing heavy about it. The views he holds are sincere, and expressed with passion".
The Foreign Minister lamented that he was no longer a "free person".
Addressing former MP S.L. Gunasekera who was the keynote speaker at the book launch, Mr. Kadirgamar said "my friend SL is a little unforgiving on matters like this. He is a man who does not believe that the word compromise exists in the dictionary. But to him, I say with all respect and the fullest respect that he deserves, that compromise, whether it is a good word or a bad word, is in current usage and that is also necessary in this horrible business of politics".
In his keynote address, S. L. Gunasekera asked how the word "compromise" could exist when it came to the issue of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of a nation.

Saying that Foreign Minister Kadirgamar was the "only cabinet minister he respected", he blamed the governments of President Chandrika Kumaratunga and former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe for compromising with the LTTE at every turn.

He said the biggest danger to this country was sycophancy and added that no longer were standards of whether something was the 'done thing" or not, adhered to in public life.

Sarvodaya Chief and publisher of the book A. T. Ariyaratne and the author also spoke. The author's son, Maithri Gunaratne gave the vote of thanks.

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