Colombo: Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Saturday said the Tamil minority now wants to live peacefully in one country and slammed the Tamil diaspora for the lack of support in his reconciliation and rebuilding efforts in the former conflict zones.
"Diaspora and the Tamil parties who foster separation still try to take the Tamil society towards destruction", he said while speaking at the Victory Day celebrations marking the fourth anniversary of the military victory over the LTTE.
Rajapaksa said that Tamils now want to live peacefully in a single country. His government had faced various machinations by way of human rights accusations. "The hidden idea was to crush us, how to make us kneel before them," he said.
Rajapaksa, paying tribute to his troops in a colourful military parade, said he would not allow the separation of the land that troops had scarificed to preserve....
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03:30 PM, May 18, 2013
Colombo: The Sri Lankan government is investigating a controversial video footage aired by a British Channel accusing the army of war crimes during the final phase of the battle with the LTTE. This was conveyed to European Parliament by Sri Lankan Ambassador to European Union PM Amza on Tuesday, a government statement said. The investigation is to happen irrespective of Sri Lanka's categorical rejection of the Channel-4 footage in the...
05:45 PM, May 15, 2013
Colombo: Sri Lanka has rejected moves to block trade with Tamil Nadu and has insisted that economic relations should not be disrupted despite political tensions, an official said on Thursday. "There were reports regarding a protest by a port employees' organization which said their members will refrain from handling or processing Indian supplies due to the situation in Tamil Nadu," Port and Highway Deputy Minister Rohitha Abeygunawardana said. "I am...
03:54 AM, Apr 05, 2013
A group of unidentified men attacked the office of a Tamil newspaper in Sri Lanka's former war zone on Wednesday, injuring several staffers and damaging equipment at the publication known for its government criticism. ...
05:51 PM, Apr 03, 2013
Trade unions manning Sri Lanka's main port have threatened to block about $2 billion worth of imports and exports to the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, media reports said in Colombo on Wednesday. ...
05:22 PM, Apr 03, 2013
External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid says India knows how to take pressure when it comes to its foreign policies. While speaking to Karan Thapar on Devil's Advocate, Khurshid called the Italian government sensible in connection with the marines row. ...
08:41 PM, Mar 31, 2013
Sri Lanka has been in the line of fire over alleged human rights violations against Lankan Tamils for almost four years now. Allegations of war crimes and human rights abuses have swirled and eddied around the Sri Lankan Army since the killing of LTTE supremo Prabhakaran, but the photographs of his teenage son Balachandran gave it an ugly disturbing edge. ...
02:08 PM, Mar 20, 2013
Uproar over issues relating to Sri Lankan Tamils and Union Minister Beni Prasad Verma's remarks against Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav led to the adjournment of Parliament for an hour on Wednesday. ...
11:59 AM, Mar 20, 2013
The DMK on Tuesday pulled out from the UPA government over the Sri Lankan war crimes issue. It said its ministers will resign soon. ...
07:37 PM, Mar 19, 2013
Political analyst and 'Vaartha' bureau chief R Rajagopalan joined IBNLive readers for an interaction on the UPA govt's DMK crisis. ...
06:52 PM, Mar 19, 2013
Some 11 Sri Lankan players including Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene and Lasith Malinga are part of various IPL franchises. ...
04:46 PM, Mar 19, 2013
Even though the DMK has pulled out of the Congress-led UPA over the US-sponsored war crimes resolution on Sri Lanka, the party is still adamant that its three demands on the issue be incorporated into the resolution. The M Karunanidhi-led party insists that the terms "genocide" and "war crimes" should be included in the US-backed resolution. ...
04:02 PM, Mar 19, 2013
SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav said that the DMK has still not withdrawn support from the UPA as they haven't notified the President. ...
02:50 PM, Mar 19, 2013
After DMK's decision to withdraw support to the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance Government, the UPA Government is now reduced to minority. ...
02:38 PM, Mar 19, 2013
Subramanian Swamy said if the DMK is serious, they should write to the President that they are withdrawing support. ...
01:49 PM, Mar 19, 2013
Leaving a door open for negotiations after withdrawing its support to the UPA, DMK Rajya Sabha MP Vasanthi Stanley said she is sure that the government will look into the party's demands. ...
01:31 PM, Mar 19, 2013
Downplaying the DMK decision to pull out of the Congress-led UPA coalition in protest against the government's position on a US-backed United Nations resolution against Sri Lanka, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said that the government is stable and will continue to stay in power. ...
12:16 PM, Mar 19, 2013
The DMK which has 18 MPs in the Lok Sabha has withdrawn support to the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance Government over the US-sponsored resolution on alleged war crimes by the Sri Lankan forces. The UPA Government is now reduced to minority. ...
11:51 AM, Mar 19, 2013
With all political rivals riling the UPA on the latter's indecision on the matter of the alleged 'war crimes' in Sri Lanka, and with the general elections just a year away, the DMK, of course, wanted to encash such an emotive issue to the hilt. ...
11:37 AM, Mar 19, 2013
