Bernard Tilakaratna, SLOS (1927–2004) was a senior diplomat and bureaucrat of the

Sri Lankan government The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) (; ) is a Semi-presidential republic determined by the Sri Lankan Constitution. It administers the island from both its commercial capital of Colombo and the administrative capital of Sri Jayawardenepura Kott ...

. He was an ambassador to many countries and prior to retirement was the

permanent secretary A permanent secretary is the most senior Civil Service (United Kingdom), civil servant of a department or Ministry (government department), ministry charged with running the department or ministry's day-to-day activities. Permanent secretaries are ...

Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...

Early life

He was born on 8 December 1927 in

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

and schooled at St Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia. He then enrolled into the

University of Ceylon The University of Ceylon was the only university in Sri Lanka (earlier Ceylon) from 1942 until 1972. It had several constituent campuses at various locations around Sri Lanka. The University of Ceylon Act No. 1 of 1972, replaced it with the Univ ...

, where he obtained his B.A. Degree.

Diplomatic career

He joined the Ceylon Foreign Service in May 1951. In various capacities, he served in the Sri Lanka Foreign Ministry and missions abroad. Tilakaratna was in India during the height of the terrorist conflict in Sri Lanka and had to negotiate with the Indian Government on many occasions. In Thimphu, Bhutan, he attended peace talks with the terrorist organisation, Liberation Tamil Tigers Eelam (

LTTE The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; , ; also known as the Tamil Tigers) was a Tamil militant organization, that was based in the northern and eastern Sri Lanka. The LTTE fought to create an independent Tamil state called Tamil Eelam ...

) He was appointed as Foreign Secretary to the Ministry of Sri Lanka, which he served under President

Ranasinghe Premadasa Sri Lankabhimanya Ranasinghe Premadasa ( ''Raṇasiṃha Premadāsa''; ''Raṇaciṅka Pirēmatācā''; 23 June 1924 – 1 May 1993) was a Sri Lankan politician and statesman who served as the third President of Sri Lanka from 2 January 1989 unt ...

. Death of Bernard Tilakaratna
, Daily News, retrieved 1 October 2004. He was the first Foreign Secretary to be appointed from the ranks of career diplomats of the Sri Lanka Foreign Service.

Posts held

*March 1989 – August 1994: Foreign Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Colombo *August 1982- February 1989: High Commissioner, India (concurrently to Bhutan, Nepal) *June 1980 – July 1982:

Director General A director general, general director or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''general directors'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals'') is a senior executive officer, often the chief executive officer ...

, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Colombo *September 1974 – May 1980:

Ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or so ...

, Japan (concurrently to South Korea and Philippines) *March 1974 – August 1974: Director General, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Colombo *January 1971 – February 1974: Director of Foreign Relations (Europe, then Asia & Africa), Colombo *December 1968 – December 1970: Deputy High Commissioner, New Delhi *August 1966 – November 1968: Deputy Permanent Representative, United Nations, New York *January 1965 – July 1966: Charge d'affairs: Rio de Janeiro *January 1963 – December 1964: Chief of Protocol, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Colombo *March 1961 – December 1962: First Secretary, New Delhi *April 1960 – February 1961: First Secretary, Moscow *June 1958 – March 1960: Second Secretary, Paris *October 1956- May 1958: Assistant Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Colombo *August 1953 – September 1956: Trade Commissioner, India *September 1952 – July 1953: Official Secretary, Jakarta *June 1952 – August 1952: Attache, Rangoon

Family

He has two daughters and a son. The elder daughter, Mrs. Shiranthi Wimalaguna is married to Dr.Dharmapala Wimalaguna and resides in Australia. The younger daughter, Mrs.Krishanthi Weerakoon is married to Mr. Esala Weerakoon who is the former Secretary General of SAARC. Esala Weerakoon is the son of another well-known Sri Lankan civil servant,Mr.

Bradman Weerakoon Deshamanya Robin Bradman Weerakoon, CCS (born 20 October 1930) is a Sri Lankan civil servant. As a senior bureaucrat of the Sri Lankan government, he served nine Sri Lankan heads of state in a career spanning half a century.David, Marianne (in ...

. His son Prasanna Tilakaratna is an Anaesthetist and resides in the UK.

Death

He died on 30 September 2004 from a long-standing illness (Lymphoma).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tilakaratna, Bernard 1927 births 2004 deaths Sri Lankan Buddhists Alumni of the University of Ceylon Deaths from lymphoma Ambassadors of Sri Lanka to Japan Ambassadors of Sri Lanka to South Korea Ambassadors of Sri Lanka to the Philippines High commissioners of Sri Lanka to India Ambassadors of Sri Lanka to Bhutan Ambassadors of Sri Lanka to Nepal Sinhalese people Sri Lankan civil servants