The Sri Lankan government hit back at defeated opposition candidate General Sarath Fonseka on Thursday alleging that he had attempted to "assassinate" President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his family.
Fonseka was to appear before the two court martials appointed to look into charges against him today, but proceedings of both the panels were postponed.
The United Nations has sought an explanation from Sri Lanka on the death of three top Tamil Tiger leaders after former Army chief Sarath Fonseka alleged that surrendering Tamil rebels were killed in cold blood.
Sri Lanka's Supreme Court on Friday admitted a petition challenging the arrest of defeated Presidential candidate General Sarath Fonseka and said it will hear the case on February 23. The court admitted a fundamental rights petition filed by Anoma Fonseka, wife of the former army chief, which seeks the right to freedom from torture, arbitrary arrest and detention. In her petition, Anoma had asked the court to rule her husband's arrest as illegal.
'Military police personnel who went to take Fonseka into custody on charges of military offences have neither beaten him nor harassed him on that occasion as reported in a section of the media,' the army said in a statement.
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.
General Sarath Fonseka, the defeated candidate in the recent Sri Lanka's presidential election and the country's former Army chief, has been arrested, BBC has reported.
Over 100 personnel from Sri Lanka's elite Special Task Force on Friday raided the office of former army chief and defeated opposition presidential candidate General Sarath Fonseka in Colombo."I don't know what they are looking for. They have also questioned the staff," said a close aide of Fonseka, who was trounced by incumbent Mahinda Rajapaksa in the January 26 presidential polls.
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.
The Sri Lankan army on Wednesday surrounded the Colombo hotel occupied by former army chief General Sarath Fonseka, who is the main opponent of President Mahinda Rajapakse in the presidential poll, counting for which began on Tuesday night.Heavily armed Lankan troops were deployed around the building following information that army deserters were among the 400 people present inside the lake-front luxury hotel in central Colombo.
Incumbent Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has acquired an initial lead in postal vote counting in the country's sixth presidential election against main challenger and former army chief General (retired) Sarath Fonseka.According to the island-nation's Election Office, over 70 per cent of the 14 million-plus voters exercised their franchise in Tuesday's presidential election, which was held from 7 am to 4 pm.
The stage is now set for what is expected to be the most closely contested Presidential polls in Sri Lanka, with the incumbent Mahinda Rajapaksa and his main challenger Sarath Fonseka are exuding full confidence of emerging victorious.
"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.
In a major boost to the presidential campaign of former top Sri Lankan army general Sarath Fonseka, the dominant Tamil party, Tamil National Alliance on Wednesday announced support to him.
Questioning the purpose of opposition Presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka's recent India visit, an ally of Sri Lanka's ruling party has asked the former Army General to reveal the details of his tour and whether he reached an agreement with New Delhi.
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari is not interested in dragging former president Pervez Musharraf to the court of law, but rather favours reconciliation with the former general. Zardari said the Pakistan People's Party favours reconciliation with Musharraf, and that the fate of the former army chief would be decided by the parliament. Zardari rebuffed the notion of being a 'power monger', saying he had declined several offers from the previous regime of becoming the PM.
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Former Army Chief Gen VK Singh, whose last days in office were marred by a legal battle with the government in the Supreme Court, has sought to drag the Prime Minister's Office over his age row and the Tatra truck scandal saying a senior bureaucrat there was "orchestrating" the issues.
The crime branch of Delhi police told the court that accused Kafaitullah Khan, alias Master Raja, had received Rs 30,000 from the ISI while constable of Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry unit Fareed Ahmad had got Rs 10,000.
Jaswant Singh maintained that he never expected his book to cause such a furore. When asked why he was expelled without being given a chance to explain his stand, Singh said,"This question should now be addressed to the party, which decided to expel me. I am a member of Parliament and have more then one hunered books to my credit and hence I would like to be remembered both as a parliamentarian and an author."
Breaking his silence on former army chief V K Singh's remarks that ministers in Jammu and Kashmir were given money by the Army, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday said the Centre should conduct a thorough probe as allegations made by Singh cannot be brushed aside.
Where Girls Dare is a fictional account by former army officer Bhavna Chauhan that follows the antics of 52 lady cadets or LCs, who train alongside 400 gentleman cadets (GCs), some of whom believe that girls in the armed forces is a bad idea. We bring you an excerpt.
Political parties held protests against the ban on April 7 as well as Wednesday.
As Pakistan's former military ruler Pervez Musharraf defied summons and failed to show up before the country's highest court for the second day on Thursday, Chief Justice Iftikhar M Chaudhary has observed that the ex-President can be tried for "high treason" by Parliament.
Three Union ministers came out in support of boxer Sarita Devi as sports minister Sarbananda Sonowal sought a report from the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) on pugilist's controversial loss against Korean boxer in the semi-final of the Asian Games in Incheon.
Former Army Chief Gen V K Singh, who has courted controversy over secret military intelligence unit Technical Support Division, on Monday slammed its winding up, saying people "inimical" to India's security would be happy.
Union Minister of State for External Affairs General (retd) V K Singh opposed deployment of the Army in Maoist-affected areas on Tuesday, saying that the use of armed forces against "our own citizens" would "tarnish" its image.
Meanwhile, Maryam has rejected an offer for better facilities in jail.
"I do not owe an explanation to anybody", a dismissive Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh said on Tuesday when asked about his cryptic tweets late last night using words "disgust" and "duty" after representing the government at the Pakistan function in New Delhi.
'Amit A Shah's sharp vilification can be interpreted as a sign of nervousness in the saffron camp,' says Amulya Ganguli.
Parliament proceedings were adjourned for a second day on Monday over the insinuations by Prime Minister Narendra Modi against his predecessor Manmohan Singh.
Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and another person, arrested for their alleged involvement in the September 29 Malegaon blast, were subjected to narco-analysis tests in Mumbai on Monday.The Sadhvi and Sameer Kulkarni underwent the scientific tests conducted by officials of the Forensic Science Laboratory in a hospital in south Mumbai, Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad officials said.The tests on former army officer Ramesh Upadhyay is likely to be conducted on Wednesday.
Three accused in the September 29 Malegaon blast on Saturday underwent polygraph tests at the Kalina Forensic Science Laboratory.
"They (Armed Forces) need to be reassured about the weapon system they use and about the planning of what kind of the yield they have when they hit the target," Malik, the army chief during Pokhran-II, told Karan Thapar on the Devil's Advocate programme of CNN-IBN.
Noisy protests by the members of the Congress and other opposition parties seeking an apology from the prime minister continued unabated throughout the day since the proceedings began.
With his claim that some ministers in Jammu and Kashmir were paid to buy stability, former Army chief V K Singh has opened a "can of worms" and has undermined the legitimacy of successive governments in the state since 1947, moderate Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said.
He also participated in the 1947-48 war against Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir. He was a founder Instructor of the National Defence Academy during 1949-51.
New airbases, troops, infrastructure, development initiatives are all part of a longer strategy
Retired Major Ramesh Upadhyay, an accused in the last year's Malegaon bomb blast, on Friday moved to a special court here seeking permission to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
General Bajwa gets inputs from his senior officers, but he has the final word, notes Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at the Research and Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence agency.
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