Today, as the investigation into his death seemingly heads nowhere, who will speak for him? Will his murderers ever be brought to book?

As Editor-in-Chief of The Sunday Leader Frederica Jansz said, “It’s been one whole year since he was killed and there has been absolutely no progress as far as the investigation is concerned. This Government has to take full responsibility for his death since he was killed under their watch.”

“I hold this Government completely responsible for his murder, especially since absolutely nothing in the investigation has progressed so far. What does that say about law and order in this country – or the Police, for that matter? Is the Police so incompetent that it cannot find a single clue as to who killed Lasantha?” she added.

The savage assault on Lasantha was carried out by unidentified gunmen on motorcycles as he was driving to work, alone in his car, in rush-hour traffic. Within around three hours, despite valiant attempts to save his life at the Kalubowila Hospital, Lasantha succumbed to his injuries.

For those of us who worked with him and loved him, the sense of sorrow, loss and anger we feel today – one year down the line – is just as deep as on that day one year ago, when the news broke that he was shot – and then, a few hours later, that he was dead.

Although Lasantha always expected to be assassinated, given the path he trod and the powers he was up against – and the fact that Sri Lanka is one of the most difficult countries in the world in which to report, with intimidation and violence against the media being the order of the day – it never seemed possible that it would actually happen.

In fact, Lasantha was on Amnesty International’s endangered list since 1998, when his house was fired upon by goons, in an attempt to intimidate – or perhaps kill, given the bullets embedded in the walls.

Still, sometimes, it was almost as if he was too big for all that. But in the end, his voice too, like that of countless other journalists, was silenced.

Unbowed and unafraid to the very end, Lasantha was a man who walked tall; a man who, in every sense, walked with kings and never lost the common touch.

He was a giant, yes, especially to the world outside. For his staffers, he was so much more – he was also a father and a friend. For his children, he was everything – a doting, laughing, perfect father in every way.

As a friend and former colleague speaking to me about Lasantha this week said, “Nothing is ever forgotten.” How true. Nothing ever will be. He will always live in the hearts of those of us who loved him, those whose lives he touched with his trademark smile.

The massive crowd that gathered at Kanatte on the day Lasantha was laid to rest was testament to his undying popularity among the people from all walks of life – on whose behalf he wrote and finally gave his life.

If only the Opposition didn’t turn that dark day into a political circus. Surely, Lasantha deserved better – a whole lot better – than that spectacle, with its incessant slogan screaming, coconut bashing and effigy burning; so much unnecessary and ugly violence on behalf of a gentle, God-fearing man who lived by the pen and not the sword.

A man who successfully pioneered investigative journalism in the country and took it to new heights in Sri Lanka, Lasantha was fearless and irrepressible and wrote so that all of us would have a better world to live in.

The world of journalism had him for just over 30 years, since his entry into journalism at the Sun newspaper in 1977. He was gunned down just three months before his 51st birthday.

As Lasantha’s chilling final editorial pointed out, his death took place under President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s watch. International outcry, condemnation and “anti-democratic” conspiracy theories aside, one year has passed and his killers are yet to be apprehended. Under whose watch will this happen, if it ever does? The onus, right now, is on the President.