It is unthinkable to me that Lasantha has now become part of Sri Lanka's gruesome statistics of dead journalists. But that is the cold reality.
This innovative and dynamic man who co-founded the Sunday Leader 15 years ago and maintained a larger than life presence in the local media circuit has now been silenced.
A buoyant and mischievous editor with the largest heart and a brilliant mind, the heartbreaking fact is that while his many colleagues were becoming statistics, it was Lasantha who would not let the targets of media violence die without cause by creating a fiery media debate around their murders. To most, that is why he was the elixir of hope and an antidote to their woes.
He displayed this combative spirit even in his final editorial published posthumously.