Developmental works being undertaken by India in war-torn northern Sri Lanka and the current political situation came up for discussion when Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar met President Mahinda Rajapaksa in Colombo on Friday. Kumar is in Colombo to attend the 58th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference. She met Rajapaksa at his official residence and discussed a host of issues that concern the relationship between the two countries.
Sri Lanka will re-acquire 99 World War II-era oil storage tanks leased to Indian Oil Corporation in the eastern port district of Trincomalee, Energy Minister Udaya Gammanpila announced on Wednesday.
The docking of two Chinese submarines at the Colombo harbour in 2014 had angered India, which said it undermined its security interests.
LTTE leaders has been barred by SL court to travel out of the country
Former sports minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage has alleged that his country 'sold' the game to India, a claim that was ridiculed by former captains Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene who demanded evidence from him.
A day after Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa was forced to cancel his speech here in the face of protests by Tamil groups, the Commonwealth on Thursday said it had offered support to the country to promote reconciliation in the trouble-torn country.
'Putting tanks on the Ladakh border is not enough to combat China, what is needed to ensure resilience against any cyber-attacks or attacks in outer space or China flexing its economic muscle, as it did with Australia.'
Sri Lanka's former Sports Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage alleged that his country "sold" the 2011 World Cup final to India -- a claim ridiculed by former captain Mahela Jayawardene, who demanded evidence for it.
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has decided to cut short his visit to Nepal in the wake of Tuesday's terror attack on his country's cricketers in Pakistan, after inking two agreements with the country
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has said that he had never met slain Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran and would have preferred to chat with him."I would have preferred to bring him here and have a chat with him. I have never seen this man," Rajapaksa said. The President also said he was not at all interested in knowing how the LTTE chief had been killed.
Within days of his appointment as International Advisor on Information Technology to Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, IT czar N R Narayana Murthy on Wednesday quit from the post citing personal reasons.
We can expect to see more Chinese wolf warrior diplomats on the prowl, in India's neighbourhood, though its mailed fist is not so visible while dealing with India, observes Colonel R Hariharan (retd).
Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a meeting with officials on Monday night soon after taking over.
Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam led by Vaiko on Monday decided to quit the National Democratic Alliance in Tamil Nadu alleging that the Bharatiya Janata Party government at the Centre was acting against Tamils and betrayed the people of the state.
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Sunday ordered the release of his former army chief turned political rival Sarath Fonseka, paving the way for him to walk out of prison after two years
Sri Lanka on Thursday freed 33 Indian fishermen arrested for allegedly poaching in the country's waters, days after President Mahinda Rajapaksa ordered their release as a goodwill gesture.
Actor Salman Khan's home became a protest site on Sunday morning when several Tamils collected outside the star's home in Bandra, Mumbai and chanted slogans against him.
It all starts in Guwahati on Sunday as the biggest city in Assam is slowly getting back to normalcy after protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
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
Amid speculation that the crucial Sri Lankan probe into the three-decade ethnic conflict may be kept under wraps, President Mahinda Rajapaksa has decided to make the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission findings public.
Ex-Sri Lanka captain Hashan Thilekaratne has reportedly alleged that two former senior Lankan cricketers -- Aravinda de Silva and Sanath Jayasuriya -- and former Sri Lanka Cricket Board President Thilanga Sumathipala were involved in fixing international matches.
Dasun Shanaka is their 10th captain in nearly five years, and barring a classy batsman like Dhananjaya de Silva and a steady pacer in Dishmantha Chameera, this team lacks quality to challenge the might of the Indian team led by Shikhar Dhawan.
Maithripala Sirisena, Sri Lanka's president-elect, was a low-profile cabinet colleague of longtime president Mahinda Rajapaksa until he switched sides to become joint opposition candidate and emerge as the proverbial dark horse in the presidential polls.
"My heart goes out to the families of the victims and the injured," Modi said.
Virat Kohli smashed Lahiru Kumara for a six to seal a clinical victory which came with 15 balls to spare
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa advocated a "humanitarian approach" to avoid clashes between fishermen from India and his country near the international maritime border (IMB).
Images from the T20 World Cup Super 12s match between England and Sri Lanka, in Sharjah, on Monday.
Government sources in New Delhi said the neighbouring country's attempt to 'politicise' a humanitarian issue by its 'unwarranted' statement on Kashmir during the video-conference reflected 'very poorly' on it.
Lyrics sung by young pop star Lahiru Perera reportedly upset Rajapaksa and a presidential aide said that the President was unhappy at taunts in the song against competing countries.
'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.
Dubbing as "unfortunate" the Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi's invite to Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa for his May 26 swearing-in, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa today said the "ill-advised" move could have been avoided as it amounted to "rubbing salt into the wounds of the already deeply injured Tamil psyche."
Rajapaksa had accepted a 'joint' invitation from the Indian government and the event organisers, and would be flying to India on Wednesday, according to diplomatic sources and protocol officials in Delhi.
Veteran Sri Lankan socialist leader D M Jayaratne, a close ally of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, was sworn-in on Wednesday as the country's 20th prime minister after the ruling party secured a near two-thirds majority.
Sri Lanka's sports ministry on Friday ordered an investigation into former sports minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage's allegation that their loss to India in the 2011 World Cup final was fixed by "certain parties". Sports minister Dullas Alahapperuma has ordered the investigation and asked for a report on its progress every two weeks, the ministry said in a statement.
"The results of these elections really open the way for President Rajapaksa to take important action to unify the country and get it back on a path of growth. It's a particularly important opportunity now to make progress on these important issues of reconciliation, power-sharing and accountability," Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Robert Blake told media persons.
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa helped the Congress-Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam alliance's performance in Tamil Nadu during last year's parliamentary elections by agreeing to halt the use of heavy weapons against the Liberation Tigers of the Tamil Eelam in the final stages of the civil war, a top Sri Lankan official has claimed.
'For the Tamil Nadu protestors to openly ask popular film actor Vijay Sethupathi not to don Murali in 800 is a travesty in every sense. It may have given them a cause to tell the world, and the governments in New Delhi, Colombo and Chennai, that the Sri Lankan ethnic issue was still alive in the state -- more so, during the current run-up to two major events in the first half of 2021,' says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Keen to forge all-weather ties with India, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has lauded the developmental work undertaken by the country in the war-ravaged northern region and vowed not to allow his nation's soil to be used against it.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday called on Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and discussed with him bilateral relations and the issue of resettlement of the war displaced Tamils.
Official spokesman Lucien Rajakarunanayake said Rajapakse, who won re-election in presidential elections last month, signed a decree dissolving the national assembly with effect from midnight Tuesday.
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