The reconciliation commission studying Sri Lanka's ethnic war and its aftermath is ready with its final report and may present it to President Mahinda Rajapaksa over the next 15 days. Officials said on Monday that the report of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission is being readied for presentation to the President who will then decide on making it public. LLRC spokesman Lakshman Wickremasinghe said the report could be presented to Rajapaksa before the November 15
Sri Lanka on Thursday signed an agreement with India to jointly redevelop the strategic World War II-era oil tank farm in the island nation's eastern port district of Trincomalee, in a new milestone in bilateral economic and energy partnership.
Those requiring to undertake emergency travels can contact the High Commission of India in Colombo.
We very much hope that wisdom dawns on the Chinese side, Jaishankar said in Bangkok.
Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa dissolved Parliament on March 2 and the general election was scheduled on April 25.
Fawad Chaudhary, Pakistan's Minister for Science and Technology, had alleged that India was pressuring Sri Lankan players not to tour Pakistan. He had tweeted that Indian "sports authorities" were resorting to cheap tactics.
'The residual historical hostility against India was certainly a factor,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
'Clearly, Washington has all but given up hope following US Acting Assistant Secretary of State Alice Wells's stormy visit to Colombo last month where she read the riot act to Sri Lankan leaders to sign the pending status of forces agreement allowing American troops to use Sri Lanka as a hub for operations in the Indian Ocean,' points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
All essentials are in short supply due to import restrictions forced by the forex crisis.
India has once again pressed for the devolution of powers to the provinces under the 13th amendment (13A) of the Sri Lankan constitution and the system of provincial councils as a meaningful step towards better representation of the island's Tamil minority.
Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao on Sunday arrived in Colombo on a key visit to boost bilateral ties and discuss the row over the alleged killing of two Indian fishermen in sea waters between the two countries. The foreign secretary was expected to discuss the killings of two Indian fishermen mid-sea earlier in January. The incident had sparked a row between the two neighbours.She is expected to meet President Mahinda Rajapksha on Monday to convey New Delhi's concern.
Lankan Speaker told the party leaders that Parliament will meet on July 20 to elect a new president.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted bail to A G Perarivalan, serving life sentence in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.
With Tamil Nadu's Members of Parliament insisting that India make its stand clear on the United States-sponsored resolution against Sri Lanka in United Nations Human Rights Commission, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said efforts are on to achieve a "forward-looking" outcome which would avoid "deepening confrontation and mistrust."
The protests brought home the fact that the Sri Lankan public is in no mood for halfway measures, as voices against Rajapaksa 'family rule' and 'securitisation' of the civilian administration began sidestepping the more critical economic crisis, affecting the nation and afflicting the individual, observes Sri Lanka watcher N Sathiya Moorthy.
The President had been moved out of his residence on Friday, in anticipation of Saturday's protests.
'That it was the LTTE was known in three weeks's time.'
The NIA had alerted the island nation that ISIS terrorists were planning to carry out strikes there.
Sri Lanka declared a state of emergency on Wednesday as angry protesters stormed the prime minister's office in Colombo, hours after president Gotabaya Rajapksa fled to the Maldives on a military jet, amid the country's worst economic crisis in decades.
India on Thursday continued to be evasive on its stand to be adopted on the resolution against Sri Lanka at the United Nations Human Rights Commission, triggering an angry walk out in Lok Sabha by United Progressive Alliance constituent Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, which was joined by the Bharatiya Janata Party and Janata Dal-United.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on a two-day visit during which she is expected to discuss the fishermen's issue and rights of minority Tamils with the Lankan leadership.
In his book Arun Bhatnagar, a retired IAS officer, makes a dig at Hardeep Singh Puri, former diplomat, Union minister and BJP nominee from Amritsar Lok Sabha seat, for Rajiv's faulty Sri Lankan policy, writes Rasheed Kidwai.
What comes as a relief to five families, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has agreed to pardon and release the five Tamil fishermen serving a death sentence for drug smuggling in the island nation.
Faced with growing anti-Sri Lankan sentiments in Tamil Nadu, Colombo may shift its deputy high commission office out of Chennai, a media report said Sunday.
Sri Lanka's new President Maithripala Sirisena on Monday unveiled his cabinet that included members from a cross-section of parties and announced fresh parliamentary polls in 100 days, two years ahead of schedule.
Pakistan government pledged the same level of security to Sri Lankan cricketers as is provided to visiting heads of state.
While acknowledging Shivaji's naval contributions, questions are being raised about the inadequate acknowledgement of Chola sea-power in southern Tamil Nadu, which dates back by a few centuries, explains N Sathiya Moorthy.
The suspicious van was wanted over the terror attacks and was taken into custody at Sungavila.
The Rajiv Gandhi assassination, investigation and trial were all jinxed in parts, recalls N Sathiya Moorthy.
-- Seven suicide bombers believed to be members of an Islamist extremist group carried out the series of explosions. -- Police have so far arrested 24 people - mostly members of an Islamist extremist group - in connection with the blasts
Protests rocked different parts of Tamil Nadu for the second day on Friday against the capital punishment awarded by a Sri Lankan court to five Indian fishermen for alleged drug trafficking.
The United States-sponsored draft resolution before the ongoing session of the United Nations Human Rights Commission urges the Sri Lankan government to conduct an 'independent and credible' investigation into allegations of human rights violations. The draft resolution -- a copy of which has been obtained by PTI -- has not ceded to demands of human rights bodies for an independent international investigation.
Delhi finds itself between the rock and hard place in the coming Sri Lankan election, points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The names of both Maregowda and Puttaraju had figured in the list of missing Janata Dal-Secular workers tweeted by Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Monday.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader M K Stalin and thousands of party workers were arrested on Tuesday when they attempted to picket the Sri Lankan Deputy High Commission in Chennai, demanding a probe against the island government over alleged war crimes.
A 41-year-old man from Cuddalore district died after self-immolation while several pro-Tamil outfits tried to picket the Lankan deputy high commission in Chennai demanding action against the Rajapaksa government for alleged war crimes.
Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief Vaiko and his supporters were on Friday detained when they tried to march towards the prime minister's residence in protest against the visit of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to the country. Vaiko and scores of his supporters have been protesting at Jantar Mantar in Delhi since morning, demanding that India close down the Sri Lankan High Commission in the capital.
Students across Tamil Nadu, including in Chennai, continued their protests on the Sri Lankan Tamils issue while some fishermen in Nagapattinam district observed a fast mid-sea.
A staunch supporter of slain LTTE supremo V Prabhakaran, he also criticised the former prime minister for sending the Indian Peacekeeping Force to Sri Lanka in the 1980s.
It was unhappy with the government's proposals on ways to rebuild war-hit Tamil parts of the country.
