The 74-year-old leader, who describe himself as "a rebel with a cause", earlier served as the country's president from 2005-2015, becoming South Asia's longest-serving leader. He was also prime minister for a brief period in 2018.
The victims were on their way to reinforce government troops battling Tamil Tiger rebels in the same area.
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.
President Rajapaksa, through a special gazette last month, appointed the 13-member task force for the establishment of a 'One Country, One Law' concept in Sri Lanka and comprised members from the majority Sinhala and minority Muslim communities.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa
It's an action-packed week on OTT. Fasten your seat belts and check out these options from Sukanya Verma.
After yet another instance of fishermen from Tamil Nadu being arrested by Sri Lanka, its navy in Colombo on Wednesday refuted media reports that it was harassing Indian fisherfolk.
The Indian contingent won as many as six gold medals, including double podium finishes in the women's 800m final and long jump competition, on the second and final day of Taiwan Open International athletics championship.
Holding that there was no change in India's stand on the issue of reconciliation and devolution of political powers to ethnic Tamils in Sri Lanka, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has informed Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa that New Delhi will work towards ensuring that Tamils are "masters of their own destiny within framework of a united Sri Lanka."
The rebel stronghold of Kilinochchi was decorated with red and yellow rebel flags and senior rebels joined parents of the suicide bombers -- known as the Black Tigers -- for a public ceremony.
Suspected Tamil Tiger rebels shot and wounded 2 policemen on Wednesday in northern Sri Lanka, the military said.\n\n
"One has to weigh pros and cons. What we did was in line with our stand on Sri Lanka. We do not want to infringe on the sovereignty of Sri Lanka but concerns should be expressed so that Tamil people can get justice and lead a life of dignity," he told media persons in New Delhi.
"Our traditional stand has been that we have never supported any country-specific resolution at the UNHCHR," Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told the Lok Sabha as DMK, AIADMK and CPI members rushed to the Well raising slogans on the issue.
"It should be borne in mind that India will never allow a separate independent state for Tamils in Sri Lanka because such a development will have a disastrous effect in India," Wickremanayaka, who is the first Sri Lankan Prime Minister to visit Israel, told a gathering. The Sri Lankan Prime Minister, who is on a four-day visit, claimed that Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam chief V Prabhakaran wanted to create a Tamil state "by including certain parts of India as well".
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.
All the ministers who participated in this meeting were of the opinion that as soon as there is an agreement to form an all-party government, they will hand over the responsibilities to that government, it said.
The first set of houses built by India in Jaffna for ethnic Tamils will be handed over when External Affairs Minister S M Krishna travels to Sri Lanka on Monday for a four-day visit during which the steps for their rehabilitation and political reconciliation will be discussed.
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.
India reacted strongly to Sri Lanka's allegations of the presence of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam camps in the country on Thursday, and 'categorically' denied the existence of such camps in Tamil Nadu. It has also asked Colombo to 'desist from reacting to speculative and uncorroborated reports.'
India attaches 'highest and most important priority' to the resettlement and rehabilitation of Tamil community in Sri Lanka and remains engaged with Colombo for achieving a "future" for them, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said.
The input was sent through diplomatic channels to the island nation after a through investigation pertaining to the IS case in Coimbatore was carried out by the NIA.
Hindu American Foundation: 'As an organisation that works on issues affecting Hindu minorities... in the civil war although all groups were affected, Hindu temples and Hindu institutions were disproportionately affected, and Hindus continue to be affected.' Sri Lanka's Ambassador to the United States Prasad Kariyawasam: 'Assume that Sri Lanka is referred to the ICC through the UN Security Council -- which will never happen because Sri Lanka has enough clout to block it. But assume it is. Still, the ICC cannot handle it because retrospectively they don't have jurisdiction.'
There was no immediate reaction from the LTTE in this regard.
The new laws will give the security forces and police wide powers of arrest and detention, but stopped short of banning the Tigers as demanded by nationalists.
A Regional Meteorological Centre bulletin said a cyclonic circulation is now seen over the Comorin area and its neighbourhood, extending up to mid tropospheric levels.
India on Monday said Sri Lanka has not done enough to rehabilitate displaced Tamils and asked Colombo to allow the Red Cross to take up relief and give media access to refugee camps in the strife-torn areas.
Jailed former Sri Lankan army chief Sarath Fonseka, who led the successful battle against the Tamil Tigers, might be released within the next few days, presidential sources in Colombo said.
'Karur could still impact Jana Nayagan's box-office success if Vijay and the TVK do not get their act together,' points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
The NIA had filed the case suo motu on July 8 last year and arrested the 13 persons from Tamil Nadu.
British Prime Minister David Cameron on Friday made a historic visit to Sri Lanka's war-ravaged north and met newly-elected Chief Minister C V Wigneswaran and members of the Tamil community who narrated "harrowing" stories to him about alleged rights violations.
The waters between India and Sri Lanka are guarded by the Indian Navy and the Coast Guard. The shores are patrolled by the Tamil Nadu police. Tuticorin has a 120 km-shoreline.
Sri Lanka said on Sunday that the relationship between New Delhi and Colombo was "strong," as it dismissed suggestions that there was "pressure" from New Delhi" for an early political solution to the Tamil ethnic problem during the visit of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
"Prabhakaran will never agree for anything and not a single country in the world will support his demand for a separate homeland for Tamils in Sri Lanka," V Anandasangaree, former lawmaker and president of Tamil United Liberation Front told media persons in London on Sunday night.
A G Perarivalan alias Arivu is now a free man following a legal battle, and that long fight provides scope for throwback moments of Tamil sentiment that propelled the struggle which was backed by most political parties and successive governments in Tamil Nadu.
DMDK leader Vijaykant is observing a one-day token fast at the Jantar Mantar in New Delhi to express solidarity with the minority Tamil population in Sri Lanka. Addressing his supporters in Tamil, the actor-turned-politician alleged that fishermen from Tamil Nadu were being kidnapped and killed, while they were out fishing on the high seas.Vijaykant, an actor-turned-legislator in the Tamil Nadu assembly, is known as the 'Black MGR' among his fans and followers.
According to a report in The Times, The People's Liberation Army was founded in eastern Sri Lanka four months ago and has vowed to launch attacks against government and military targets unless its demands for a separate Tamil homeland are met. "This war isn't over yet," Commander Kones, head of the PLA's Eastern District military command said.
Sri Lanka has asked the Nordic truce monitors not to accede to the rebels' 'unreasonable' demand to remove members in the peace mission who belong to states of European Union, which had outlawed LTTE as a terror organisation.
Sri Lanka's peace broker Norway on Wednesday held a crucial meeting with a top rebel negotiator in London. \n
'The allegations against the Government of Sri Lanka appear to be unsubstantiated and devoid of corroborative evidence. There is a track record of vested interests endeavouring to bring the government of Sri Lanka into disrepute, through fabricated allegations and concocted stories,' The Guardian quoted a Sri Lankan foreign affairs ministry statement as saying.
