Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse left for Colombo from the Nedumbassery International Airport in Kochi Friday evening at the end of a four-day visit to India.
He praised former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi for giving more powers to the local self government.
The proposed visit of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse to Sanchi next week -- to lay the foundation of a Buddhist University -- is mired in controversy with the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam strongly opposing the visit.
A 26-year old CITU activist on Monday attempted self-immolation here protesting the proposed visit of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse to India, police said.
Taking on senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sushma Swaraj and the Madhya Pradesh government over a proposed visit of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse there later in September, Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam founder Vaiko on Monday urged Bharatiya Janata Party's top brass against entertaining him and threatened a black flag demo if his demand was not heeded to.
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse has said he does not want joint patrolling with India to check smuggling of arms to Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday denied allegations of some pro-Tamil leaders, including Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader Vaiko that party leader Sushma Swaraj had invited Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse for an official event in Madhya Pradesh on September 21.
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse, who perhaps became the first Head of State to speak in Tamil at the UN General Assembly, has conveyed that the government puts the language on equal status with that of Sinhala, a top minister said.
During Rajapakse's nationally televised address on the country's 61st independence day, he broke into Tamil, assuring the people of the community in the embattled north and other parts of the country of their well-being and equality in status.
Over 1,500 workers of the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam are participating in a dharna at Chindwara, Madhya Pradesh. MDMK party workers have travelled all the way from Tamil Nadu to protest Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse's visit to Sanchi.
The Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse made a surprise visit to the tamil dominated town of Jaffna, a week before elections are scheduled to be held in the country.
Rajapakse says he is ready to talk to Tigers
Meanwhile, the state protocol officer said there was no room for a controversy over the issue as it had been ascertained from Colombo that Rajapakse's wife is a Buddhist.
Turning down a request made by Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary Vaiko -- to call off his party's protest against Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse -- party workers on Monday left for Sanchi to demonstrate against the violation of rights of Tamils in the island nation.
The war against the LTTE, waged by the Mahinda Rajapakse government, may have restored peace in Sri Lanka. But thousands of Tamils paid the price for the so-called victory with their lives, journalist Frances Harrison says in her new book Still Counting the Dead.
The Obama administration has expressed its deep disappointment with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse for relegating the devolution of power in the Tamil majority areas, in the country's northern province, to the back-burner. The international community had urged the Lankan government to put the motion in process after crushing the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and its leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.
Sri Lanka's new president seeks stronger ties with India
A man who tried to attempt self-immolation here protesting the proposed visit of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse to India died on Tuesday, the police said.
Bolstered by American and Pakistani support, Colombo is increasingly insensitive to Indian concerns over the plight of the Tamils.
The Pak defence delegation's visit comes at a crucial time when the Lankan military, emboldened by Colombo's withdrawal from the six-year old ceasefire agreement with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, has stepped up its offensive against the rebels.
The 2009 Lahore terror attack is yet to become even a distant memory but Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapakse has reportedly given his consent to the country's cricket team touring Pakistan again.
Sri Lankan president to arrive in Delhi Tuesday
Sri Lanka's presidential polls on January 26, between incumbent President Mahinda Rajapakse and the combined opposition candidate Sarath Fonseka, may be surprisingly too close to call, even as it has emerged that Rajapakse did the Congress party a favour during the Lok Sabha elections in Tamil Nadu last year by withdrawing the use of heavy weaponry against pro-Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebels in the last days of the war.
"India would have loved to get more involved in Sri Lanka positively -- helping us to fight terrorism. Now, remember, India suffered a lot in the sense, it lost its leader -- Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by the LTTE. That is something, which India can never forgive nor forget," says Razik Zarook, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse's Counsel.
Menon's visit follows serious concern expressed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over renewed violence in the island's embattled regions.
Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse said he will do everything within his power and that of the government to defend the off spinner.
"The LTTE is, perhaps, fighting its last battle and the security forces are continuing their fight to emancipate the country and the people of the north and east from terrorism," Rajapakse said after giving away gallantry awards to the armed forces personnel in Colombo on Thursday.
Sri Lanka's new president has ordered a government probe into Jayasuriya's sacking from the Test squad for India.
The visiting Indian minister also met his Sri Lankan counterpart Mangala Samaraweera.
He is widely regarded as the mastermind of increased military operations in recent months -- including ground shelling and aerial bombing -- against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
Menon was in Colombo to discuss the ethnic strife with the President.
Sri Lanka has offered to hold talks with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam after a two-year gap, saying the outfit does represent a fair amount of Tamils but ruled out the immediate revival of the ceasefire scrapped in January.
Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse said Muttiah Muralitharan is not only the pride of Sri Lanka but entire South Asia.
The President is seeking an end to the spurt of violence.
Sri Lanka is seeking naval assistance from India to curb the influx of arms into the island nation.
The site of the blast is just a kilometer away from the hotel in which the Indian cricketers are staying. The hotel has been cordoned off and the players who were in the hotel at the time of the blast are safe.
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