The Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process (SCOPP) moved into a new office last Thursday. The opening of the new building, located within the BMICH complex was an appropriately simple affair, considering that the task before SCOPP remains a huge challenge. It was a simple ceremony for another, far more pertinent reason: the occasion was simultaneously an opportunity to remember and to commemorate the memory of Ketheswaran Loganathan, former Deputy Secretary General of SCOPP. It was, most importantly, an occasion to reflect on the lessons that needed to be learnt from his life, his work and not least of all, his tragic death.

Kethesh, as he was fondly known, was assassinated by the LTTE for reasons that are only too well known. He was a Tamil who identified with a community's need for asserting and celebrating identity. He was a Tamil who stood for a community's right to articulate grievances and to aspire to a different political future. The LTTE would not have quarreled with these sentiments. Kethesh was a Tamil. He was more than this a democrat and a human being who did not compromise his fidelity to the idea of democratic practice, the need to listen, to debate and to find common ground. This is what brought him to SCOPP and it is for this 'unforgivable crime' that the LTTE took his life.

Dr. Palitha Kohona, Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, remembered Kethesh thus: "Kethesh was a friend and a fiercely loyal colleague. I remember one day Kethesh coming to me and telling me that some people were looking for him at the reception. He didn't know who they were. I told him then that he should be careful. Kethesh, however, was a man who exuded simplicity in all things. He told me that he didn't want security."

Penning a few words immediately after Kethesh was assassinated, Kohona said, "He was gunned down in an act of appalling barbarity. He had no time to defend himself – no time to explain. He was just shot. He would have explained his views convincingly. He thought clearly. He spoke eloquently and he was an intellectual. However, he was made to pay the ultimate price for just being that. The only sin that Kethesh committed was to be different – he chose to be a dissident. He had his own political views. For this he paid with his life and he joined a long list of Tamil dissidents who have sacrificed their lives and who have been hunted down to satisfy the remorseless blood-lust of the LTTE. We must protect the right to dissent – freedom of thought must be upheld. We must all ensure that Kethesh did not die in vain."

He echoed these words on Thursday: "There is a lesson we have to learn from this. If you are working for a good and honourable goal such as peace, there is sometimes a price you have to pay. Kethesh paid the highest price.  We have to go ahead, we have to keep fighting and we must resolve to be undeterred by acts of violence and terror, because we all need peace and the children of our country need a secure future."

His tenure at SCOPP was sadly brief, but in that brief time he infused into SCOPP the wealth of his experience as an uncompromising academic and a fervent activist who believed to the end in democracy, justice and dignity for all. This is evident in his work at the Marga Institute, the Social Scientists' Association, Centre for Policy Alternatives and in all the assignments he took on after completing his studies in the United States of America, including his role in the EPRLF and the inhabiting of the journalistic avatar 'Satya'.

Kethesh had his roots in Jaffna, was bred in Colombo, attending S. Thomas' College, Mt. Lavinia, and obtained his degrees in the USA and the Haig.  The doors of wealth and fame are quickly opened to those with that kind of history. Typically they are required to pay the price of an uprooting of sorts, from 'home', from 'community', from 'culture' and even 'history'. Typically, too, this is a price that is happily paid. Kethesh was an exception. His life was inasmuch as it was a quest for peace, justice and democracy, a search for roots, for sense of identity and belonging. Most importantly, he recognized that this was not a predilection limited to the Tamil community. This is why he chose dialogue over an aberration of that same search leading to a culture of fear, celebration of death and the disavowal of democratic values.

Kethesh had seen the world, he had lived in and understood the many facets of a complex polity. He understood the worth of diversity and the necessity of decency in all engagements. He was disliked by extremists of all colour. He was even hated.  His assassination was then predetermined by a political culture that is yet to understand and appreciate democracy and justice.

The eulogies will continue to be filed no doubt. No appreciation of such a man could ever be complete. What can be done is to honour his memory by continuing his work, that of tirelessly striving for peace, for democracy, justice and dignity of all peoples.

It is in recognition of this that SCOPP has initiated a scholarship scheme in the name of Ketheswaran Loganathan whereby Tamil speaking students of the Northern and Eastern Provinces will be able to finish their schooling at St.Thomas' College, Mt. Lavinia, Loganathan's alma mater.

Prof. Wijesinha, SCOPP Secretary General, said that it was perhaps the friendships he made at St. Thomas' that enabled him, while firmly upholding the rights of his community and drawing attention to their reasons for seeking greater autonomy, to approach the problem from a pluralistic perspective. "In the short time he spent at the Secretariat he made clear his inclusive vision and the need to empower all segments of Sri Lankan society equitably if the country is to remain united," Prof. Wijesinha said. Since the Secretariat is not a fund raising body, it has simply initiated a scheme whereby those who wish to further Kethesh's work as well as his approach may contribute direct to his old school. Funds will be earmarked for this purpose as agreed by the Warden of S. Thomas'. At the same time, in memory of another great patriot, SCOPP has asked Trinity College, Kandy to run a similar scheme in memory of Lakshman Kadirgamar, and the Principal has agreed.

It is not an irony that the LTTE website 'Nitharsanam' described Kethesh as a traitor and a 'Junior Kadirgamar'. The men shared a democratic vision. They were both inclusive thinkers and that inclusivity was not restricted to differences of ethnic identity alone. They would no doubt also have registered the need for gender equality and the empowerment of women. It is for this reason that SCOPP hopes to institute a similar scheme at Ladies College, Colombo. The Peace Secretariat has no doubt that as happened in past eras of greater communication between our different communities, "the best minds of the regions will benefit from interaction with some of their urban counterparts," Prof. Wijesinha said. "SCOPP believes that this will contribute to the enhancement of the mindset that enabled Kethesh and Lakshman Kadirgamar to uphold pluralistic values so courageously," he added.

SCOPP therefore invites individuals and the business community to contribute to scholarship funds at these three schools and any others that may be willing to provide facilities to students from the North and East to obtain high quality education. SCOPP requests Chambers of Commerce and social service organizations to work with their counterparts in the regions to promote such interchanges.

A political commentator wrote about Kethesh immediately after he was assassinated: 'As time goes on Ketheesh Loganathan will become one more statistic, but will often be cited as proof of LTTE wickedness.' One can argue that the requirement of furnishing proof of LTTE wickedness no longer exists because 'wickedness' and 'LTTE' have taken on synonymous character.  One year after Kethesh left SCOPP, Sri Lanka, the Tamil Community and the human family, he is not a statistic. SCOPP can only pledge that it will resist to the end that kind of eventuality and this through the celebration of the core values that describe Ketheswaran Loganathan: democracy, peace, justice and dignity for all.