A former Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam child soldier-turned-politician was acquitted by a court in Sri Lanka on Wednesday in the 2005 murder case of a senior ethnic Tamil lawmaker at the height of the country's bloody civil war.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Wednesday strongly criticised Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa for ruling out greater political autonomy for Tamils, saying India should at least "wake up" now and help secure their livelihood and democratic rights.
Thousands of protesters in Colombo broke through police barricades and stormed President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's official residence in the Sri Lankan capital, demanding he resign and accept responsibility for the island's gravest economic crisis that has caused thousands of Sri Lankans to live on one meal a day.
A spokesman of the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) said a video released by Ajith Dharmapala, a former police officer, claimed that President Rajapaksa was staying at the house belonging to Pathirana.
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
With barely five days to go for the crucial Presidential elections in Sri Lanka, incumbent Mahinda Rajapaksa has vowed not to allow re-emergence of the LTTE that was defeated in May last year.
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Saturday said that his country has a rich and proud record of safeguarding human rights. Addressing a public gathering in the central town of Balangoda, Rajapaksa said Sri Lanka's human rights protection was inspired by the influence of Buddhism over a period of over 2,500 years.
Unofficial results indicate that the SLPP would comfortably win at least 17 out of the 22 districts on offer.
Sri Lanka has described the adoption of its periodic review of human rights at Geneva's United Nations Human Rights Commission sessions without a division as a victory and an acknowledgment of its rights progress.
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.
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.
Indian opener Gautam Gambhir and fast bowler Ashish Nehra met Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and thanked him for facilitating their quick treatment at the hands of a reputed Sri Lankan Ayurvedic physician.
Notwithstanding stiff opposition from political parties in Tamil Nadu, Sri Lanka on Wednesday asserted that it was 'very firm' on continuing the training programme of its defence personnel in India and ruled out sending them to countries such as China.
Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary Vaiko on Wednesday criticised the Centre as well as Bharatiya Janata Party-led Madhya Pradesh government for inviting Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to a function in Sanchi near Bhopal.
Mahinda Rajapaksa's re-election as Sri Lankan president has come as a disappointment for the Tamil diaspora, which is still reeling from Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebels' defeat in the country's civil war last year. The influential community of Tamils living overseas now doesn't know about what role it should play in their homeland, the Christian Science Monitor reports.
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.
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.
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.
President Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Rajapaksa will transform Sri Lanka's political landscape after Thursday's electoral triumph, predicts N Sathiya Moorthy, veteran Colombo watcher.
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.
Opposing the invitation extended to Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief Vaiko on Friday met Bharatiya Janata Party president Rajnath Singh and demanded that the party should 'avoid' the presence of Mahinda Rajapaksa at Narendra Modi's swearing-in ceremony.
Padma Vibhushan awardee Murthy has stepped down as Infosys CEO but continues as its chief mentor and board chairman.
The President had been moved out of his residence on Friday, in anticipation of Saturday's protests.
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
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.
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).
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
Claiming that rebels of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam were 'receiving an unprecedented defeat,' Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Monday vowed that government troops would flush out the Tigers from their Wanni heartlands in the north.
National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon arrived in Colombo on Monday to hold crucial talks on the controversial 13th amendment on devolution of power in the Tamil-dominated northern province and a trilateral maritime security treaty with Sri Lanka and the Maldives.
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.
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 Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has promised the United Nations that his forces would protect Tamil civilians as it pushes ahead with its offensive to defeat the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Rajapaksa gave this assurance over telephone to UN Secretary General Ban ki Moon, as his forces overran the last base of the sea Tigers near Mulaittivu, cutting off all their escape routes.
Rajapaksa is the first president to be sworn in outside Colombo.
Pakistan on Thursday hailed Sri Lanka's efforts in tackling terrorism, saying there was a "marked difference" in the country in its post-conflict phase of development. Jalil Abaas Jilani, visiting Pakistani foreign secretary, made the comments during his meeting with President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Thursday morning.
During the two-day visit, Mukherjee will meet President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama and discuss the latest situation in the northern part of the island nation, sources said. Mukherjee is expected to impress upon Rajapaksa government the need for finding a political solution to the ethnic problem to ensure lasting peace.
In a no-holds barred address, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has dared Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam chief Velupillai Prabhakaran to a one-on-one clash with him. He said that he would challenge Prabhakaran to clash with him directly to avoid a killing spree targeting innocent civilians, Parliamentarians and Ministers.
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.
It may not be desirable in the 21st century, in the context of the emergence of human rights as a powerful emotive factor and of India's rise as an important player on the regional and global scene, to place self-imposed restrictions on the way we deem fit to vote on human rights resolutions, says Satish Chandra
In the first post war elections in Sri Lanka after the defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a pro-Tiger party on Sunday won the municipal poll in Vavuniya, an indication that the separatists still attract popular support, even as President Mahinda Rajapaksa's coalition won the prestigious Jaffna local elections.
With the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam wiped out, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Tuesday offered equal rights for Tamils through a political solution, but stressed that it won't be 'imported'. He said the government does not accept the military solution as final and that his aim was to provide equal rights to all communities. Rajapaksa said it was necessary to give the Tamil people the freedoms that are the right of people in all other parts of the country.
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