The Tigers refused to forgive Douglas Devananda and tried to assassinate him repeatedly. He later said: "(LTTE chief Velupillai) Prabhakaran cannot kill me." Destiny proved him right.
Parliament met for a brief special session on Saturday to announce the vacancy in the presidency following the resignation of Rajapaksa.
During the 13-minute special session, Dhammika Dassanayake, ecretary general of Parliament, announced the vacancy for the post of president.
The Sri Lankan Parliament is all set to elect the successor to Gotabaya Rajapaksa in a three-way presidential contest on Wednesday, following a high-voltage political drama which saw the former president fleeing the country and resigning after a popular uprising against his government for mismanaging the economy.
'Granting the country's highest civilian honour to Prime Minister Modi was surprising as it indicated the government was going out of its way to have India as a close partner.'
Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe on Sunday slammed Sri Lanka Cricket for bidding for a ban from the ICC, calling it a "big betrayal of the country".
The 225-member Parliament will elect the new president by a secret vote on July 20, Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena said on Friday.
Sri Lanka's parliament unanimously passed a resolution on Thursday, calling for the sacking of the country's cricket governing body, with both the ruling and opposition parties supporting it.
For India to view the new Sri Lankan leadership only through the prism of the past or through their narrow view on China, is fraught with possibilities that should be avoided, asserts N Sathiya Moorthy.
Sajith Premadasa, the 55-year-old leader of Sri Lanka's principal opposition party Samagi Jana Balawegaya, said on Tuesday that he was withdrawing from the race of President to provide support to Alahapperuma.
Ranil Wickremesinghe was on Wednesday elected as Sri Lanka's new President by Parliament, in a rare move that could provide continuity for ongoing discussions with the International Monetary Fund for a bailout for the cash-strapped nation but a development likely to anger anti-government protesters who have been demanding his resignation from office for weeks.
"International Cricket Council Board has suspended Sri Lanka Cricket's membership of the ICC with immediate effect," read a statement from the ICC.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Rajapaksa and said he looks forward to further deepen relations between the two nations.
Delhi finds itself between the rock and hard place in the coming Sri Lankan election, points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Polls opened at 7 am local time and would close at 5 pm with some 12,845 polling stations being set up throughout the country for 15.9 million voters, who will choose a successor to President Maithripala Sirisina.
'The residual historical hostility against India was certainly a factor,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
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.
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.
'China held a meeting on the One Belt One Road and India boycotted it.' 'However, all of India's neighbours attended, except for one, Bhutan.' 'India warned those attending that the partnership with the Chinese would come at a heavy price, but almost nobody heard us.' 'The question is: Why not?' asks Aakar Patel.
Though dubbed as the 'war hero', the role of Rajapaksa in ending the conflict with the LTTE 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.
The Indian authorities have to reconfirm that Prabhakaran is dead. It may require seeking assistance from Interpol and also involve the re-opening of the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, and more so, the investigations, formally or otherwise, asserts N Sathiya Moorthy.
'As I went around Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Jaffna and Mannar, my mind went back to my visit in January 1990 at the fag end of the IPKFs mission in Sri Lanka,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
'They were the leaders of my country and the children of Mother India, but they didn't die as martyrs.' 'They were killed, most unfortunately, by a well planned enemy plot, and they were victims of political violence,' states Sudhir Bisht.
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