US embassy cable - 05COLOMBO1428

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 COLOMBO 001428 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR S/ES, INR/MR, PA 
SA/INS (CAMP, SIMS) SA/PD (SCENSNY, ROGERS); SSA/PAS 
 
UNCLASSIFIED 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958:N/A 
TAGS: KPAO, PTER, EAID, OIIP, PREL, CE, LTTE - Peace Process 
SUBJECT:  Special Media Reaction:  Assassination of Foreign 
Minister Kadirgamar - Media openly blames LTTE, but urges 
public restraint 
 
Reftel: Colombo 1425 and previous 
 
1. (U) Summary:  Foreign Minister Kadirgamar's assassination 
has been the overwhelming focus of all media since late 
Friday night, with homages and retrospectives repeatedly 
broadcast on TV stations and printed in the press.  Despite 
the public anger and shock over the slaying, however, the 
media have urged public calm and have refrained from calls 
for the government to break the cease-fire with the LTTE. 
End summary. 
 
2. (U) Eulogies to Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, 
assassinated late Friday night, covered the front pages of 
all Saturday newspapers and dominated all television and 
radio broadcasts over the weekend and Monday.  Sunday's 
papers and broadcasts discussed the logistics of the killing 
and subsequent investigation, and both government and 
independent media speculated openly about the LTTE's 
culpability.  In the August 14 Sunday papers, the Government 
and President clearly indicted the LTTE for the Foreign 
Minister's assassination.  By Monday, English and Sinhala 
broadcasts condemned the slaying but repeated the 
President's assurance that the government would not break 
the ceasefire. Government owned and mainstream independent 
media organizations, including those with a Sinhala 
nationalist proclivity, reiterated the President's call for 
the public to remain restrained and unprovoked by "extremist 
elements." 
 
3. (U) Television broadcasts presented Foreign Minister 
Kadirgamar as an internationally respected statesman, an 
unbiased diplomat unquestionably devoted to a peaceful, 
united Sri Lanka.  Independent and state-operated television 
stations prominently aired condolence messages from 
Secretary Rice and other foreign dignitaries, along with 
 
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footage of Kadirgamar's most memorable speeches. On Saturday 
evening, U.S. Charge' d'Affaires James Entwistle appeared 
live (after the Indian High Commissioner) on state-owned 
Rupavahini television to commemorate Kadirgamar and 
emphasize the Secretary's condemnation of the murder. State 
owned Rupavahini broadcast a memorial song with footage of 
the Foreign Minister meeting with Secretary Rice and former 
Secretary Powell. 
 
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4.  (U) English and Sinhala editorialists celebrated the two- 
time Foreign Minister as a brilliant statesman murdered by 
terrorists. All called for the government and the public to 
honor his legacy by pursuing a lasting peace wholeheartedly, 
though Sinhala nationalist papers implored the 
"international community," particularly the Norwegian peace 
facilitators, to admit the LTTE is an armed terrorist 
organization, not an army of freedom fighters.  The 
government owned Daily News contended, "The state, as 
opposed to terrorists who understand only the language of 
violence and bloodshed best, cannot afford to abandon the 
common good as represented in the Ceasefire Agreement and 
act on deadly impulses," but, "we hope the LTTE would not 
make the tragic mistake of interpreting the civilized 
restraint of the State of Sri Lanka as weakness."  The 
Island expressed concern the LTTE would murder anti-LTTE 
Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) leader V. Anadasangaree 
next, and urged he be well protected. 
 
 
5.  (U) While independent Tamil papers refrained from 
lauding the assassination, most reminded their readers that 
Kadirgamar, an ethnic Tamil,led the campaign to make the 
LTTE a banned terrorist organization in the U.S. and the 
U.K. Information Officer spoke to pro-LTTE Jaffna daily 
Uthayan editor M.V. Kaanamylnathan who stated the editorial 
staff of Uthayan and sister pro-LTTE paper Sudar Oli regret 
the murder but believe the "Tamil cause" is stronger without 
Foreign Minister Kadirgamar.  As reported in mainstream 
English and vernacular papers, the LTTE denied 
responsibility for the assassination and claimed it would 
have no effect on the peace process.  However, independently 
owned Daily Mirror printed a translation of an editorial