Embarrassed over All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam members shouting slogans against a visiting Parliamentary delegation from Sri Lanka, Speaker Meira Kumar on Monday expressed anguish about the incident and offered her "sincere apologies" for it. "She expressed anguish and offered sincere apologies over slogan shouting by some Members of Parliament in the House when the visiting delegation was witnessing the proceedings of the Lok Sabha," a Lok Sabha release said.
Thirteen people accompanied Rajapaksa to the Maldives. They arrived in an AN32 aircraft, according to TV news channels.
Parliament met for a brief special session on Saturday to announce the vacancy in the presidency following the resignation of Rajapaksa.
Leaders of various opposition parties on Sunday demanded that issues of price rise, 'Agnipath' scheme as well as the alleged misuse of investigative agencies be taken up in Parliament and also raised objections to the list of 'unparliamentary words' at an all-party meeting convened by the government ahead of the Monsoon Session.
The Sri Lankan government has asserted that the recently signed maritime security pacts with India will "neither result in hindrance nor threat" to the island nation's security as "misinterpreted" by several media outlets in this country.
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.
A ceremonial procession is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon that will see the coffin travel in a gun carriage from Buckingham Palace to the Palace of Westminster, or the Houses of Parliament building.
The ex-president returned to Sri Lanka on a Singapore Airlines flight.
Rajapaksa, his wife Loma and their two security officers were expected to leave for Singapore on board SQ437 from Male on Wednesday night but did not board the aircraft due to security concerns, the Daily Mirror newspaper reported.
PM Modi addressed the Sri Lanka Parliament on Friday.
Joins Rajapaksa's newly-formed Sri Lanka People's Party
Sri Lanka's Acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Monday imposed emergency giving him sweeping powers ahead of the key election on July 20 to pick a new President as he urged the political parties to put aside differences and form an all-party government, with the Opposition dubbing his decision as an 'undemocratic draconian act'.
Rajapaksa, 73, fled Sri Lanka after the July 9 uprising when people broke into the President's House after months of public protests against him for mishandling the country's worst economic crisis since 1948.
There was a 'fascist threat' to democracy in Sri Lanka and 'we can't let them tear up our Constitution', acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe told the crisis-hit nation on Wednesday, as he vowed to restore normalcy as well as stop the destruction of state property.
The protesters left the main anti-government protest camp at Galle Face promenade where they had been staging sit-ins since April 9, branding it as the 'Gota go home village' (Rajapaksa go home).
Sri Lanka's contracted cricketers will receive 65 percent of their unpaid fees within the next three days when their ruling body receives $2 million from the International Cricket Council for hosting the 2011 World Cup, the country's sports minister said on Tuesday.
Sri Lanka on Tuesday said LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran has been surrounded by security forces in the tiny swathe of land on the island's northern war zone and that there was no question of him escaping from there.
The Central Bureau of Investigation is likely to register an FIR against Abdul Razaq, nephew of a Lok Sabha member, and others in connection with the alleged swindling of public money in the purchase of tuna fish from a Lakshadweep cooperative by a Sri Lankan company represented by him, officials said on Tuesday.
Describing Lord Buddha as the inspiration for India's Constitution even today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said Buddha resides in the soul of humanity and connects different cultures and countries.
Proceedings in Parliament were paralysed for the third day running over a number of issues, including Telangana and death of 40 children in Muzaffarnagar relief camps, preventing the notices for a no-confidence motion from being taken up on Wednesday.
After nearly two days of political deadlock, the stakeholders are engaged in prolonged talks to try and appoint a successor to Mahinda Rajapaksa.
The Council of Islamic Ideology issued a statement after a meeting which was presided over by its chairperson, Dr Qibla Ayaz.
The President had been moved out of his residence on Friday, in anticipation of Saturday's protests.
Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa dissolved Parliament on March 2 and the general election was scheduled on April 25.
Earlier it was claimed that the MP committed suicide by shooting himself after he opened fire at two members of the group which had surrounded his vehicle on Monday.
Though dubbed as the "war hero", the role of Rajapaksa in ending the conflict with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam with the death of its supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran in 2009 is quite divisive as he stands accused of violating human rights, a charge he vehemently denies.
Sri Lanka has also imposed a police curfew in Western Province for six hours.
Conservative Member of Parliament Deepak Obhrai, Parliamentary Secretary to Foreign Affairs, who wanted to go to Sri Lanka to see refugee camps, has been denied visa to enter the country.
Breaking a 28-year-long hiatus, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday embarked on an important visit to Sri Lanka with the message that India favoured a life of equality, justice, peace and dignity for Tamils in its "new journey" of peace and reconciliation.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi sets off on Tuesday on a five-day tour of Seychelles, Mauritius and Sri Lanka that is expected to give traction to the country's Indian Ocean outreach during which he also visit a former war zone and Tamil heartland of Jaffna.
Mahinda Rajapaksa has been accused by the Opposition of inciting the ruling party mobs to attack peaceful protesters by making a defiant speech while addressing several thousands of his supporters to deflect calls for his resignation.
Around 300 soldiers deployed for the rescue mission also saved some 180 people trapped in Aranayake village besides recovering 13 bodies from the area.
Sri Lanka's embattled President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, under immense pressure from the public and the Opposition to quit over the island nation's worst economic crisis, said on Thursday that the abolition of the executive presidency, a move that will curb his powers, will be considered by Parliament.
Xi Jinping is winning the war without firing a shot in Sri Lanka, observes Colonel R Hariharan (retd).
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.
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 dissidents, led by former president Sirisena's Sri Lanka Freedom Party, would leave the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna coalition with its 14 Members of Parliament, party sources said after their meeting with the President on Monday.
The SLPP, led by prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, has won in 145 constituencies, bagging a total of 150 seats with its allies, a two-thirds majority in the 225-member Parliament, according to the results announced by the election commission.
Canadian Conservative Member of Parliament Deepak Obhrai was in Sri Lanka July 5 to 7 on an official visit. The lawmaker discusses his Sri Lanka visit with Ajit Jain. The lawmaker, who is also the parliamentary secretary to the foreign affairs minister, visited refugee camps in Sri Lanka to monitor Canadian aid to the Tamil refugees. His mandate also was to locate Canadians, if there were any, in the IDP [Internally Displaced Persons] camps and get them back to Canada.
We believe the situation in Sri Lanka does not call for military victory but negotiated, political settlement that respects Sri Lankan sovereignty and human rights of ethnic Tamils, Dr Singh said.
