(PTI) Twenty-two fishermen from Jagadapattinam and other coastal villages in Pudukottai district were on Wednesday taken into custody by Sri Lankan naval personnel when they were fishing near Katchatheevu in the Palk Straits, officials said.

Inspector of Fisheries Ramamurthy said they had received information about the detention of the fishermen and the Indian Coast Guard had been informed.

The Sri Lankan naval men, when contacted by the Coast Guard, informed them that the fishermen would be handed over to the [...]

New Delhi: As part of its efforts to rebuild war-torn northern region of Sri Lanka, India will undertake reconstruction and repair of 49,000 houses for Tamil civilians displaced due to the decades-old conflict at a cost of Rs 1300 crore.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here today in line with a promise made by him to Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa during the latter’s visit here in June, [...]

After prolific oil discoveries in India, Cairn India Monday said it has made a second natural gas discovery in the offshore Mannar Basin of Sri Lanka.

"Cairn Lanka (Pvt) Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cairn India Ltd, has notified the appropriate authorities in the government of Sri Lanka of a gas discovery in the CLPL-Barracuda-1G/1 well, located in Block SL 2007-01-001, Mannar Basin, Sri Lanka," the company said in a press statement here.

This is the second well in a three-well [...]

(PTI) 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 today that the report of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) 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 deadline.

"We are [...]

The Hague: When Tamil Tigers were routed on the battlefield two years ago, the Sri Lankan government believed it had crushed the 25-year rebellion for a separate Tamil homeland.

But evidence surfacing in a courthouse in the Netherlands shows that the cause of Tamil independence is still alive in Europe, and an assessment from counterterrorism authorities says supporters of the defeated rebels remain engaged in extortion, human trafficking and other crimes to raise money for their brethren in Sri Lanka. [...]

(IANS) Indian Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai met Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa ahead of touring the former war zone in the northern part of the island nation, officials said here on Monday.

Mathai, who arrived in Sri Lanka on Saturday on a three-day official visit, called on Rajapaksa to discuss issues of mutual concern, Xinhua reported.

Though it was not immediately known as to what transpired between the two, but analysts believe the Sri Lankan government’s political reconciliation with the [...]

(PTI) Amidst international criticism over its rights record, Sri Lankan government on Thursday unveiled its five-year action plan to protect and promote human rights.

The ‘National Action Plan for the Protection of Human Rights’ gets underway with immediate effect, the senior minister and President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s human rights envoy, Mahinda Samarasinghe said.

"The action plan was developed through a participatory process involving both government and civil society partners’" Samarasinghe said.

Its three fold objectives are the achievement of genuine and [...]

(PTI) Family members of the LTTE rebels have filed a case in a New York court against Sri Lanka’s deputy ambassador to the UN Maj Gen Shavendra Silva, accusing him of committing war crimes during the last phase of civil war.

However, the country’s powerful Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said Colombo would use the case to highlight the "atrocities" committed by the Tamil rebels to the world.

The widow of LTTE’s self-styled ‘Colonel’ Ramesh, Vathsala Devi and another named Seetharam [...]

(IANS) Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has called upon the UN to build a more equal international order, saying that "the might of powerful nations cannot prevail".

Rajapaksa made the remarks here Friday as he was speaking at the general debate of the 65th session of the UN General Assembly, with the theme of the role of mediation in settling disputes by peaceful means, reported Xinhua.

"The might of powerful nations cannot prevail against justice and fair play," the [...]

Sri Lanka has stepped up efforts to build national consensus and will set up a parliamentary select committee to find an early solution to the Tamil issue, Prime Minister DM Jayaratne has told senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi.

Joshi who had called on Jayaratne during the weekend had asked him to find a political solution for a speedy reconciliation with the Tamils.

Sri Lanka will free 1,200 more rehabilitated former Tamil Tiger guerrillas by September-end, Xinhua reported on Monday.

This would take to 17,000 the number of former members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) who have gained freedom since the war ended in May 2009, said a senior official.

(PTI) The AIADMK on Thursday staged a walkout in the Puducherry Assembly after Speaker V Sabapathy declined permission to table a private member resolution seeking economic sanctions against Sri Lanka.

When Speaker V Sabapathy asked AIADMK’s legislature wing leader, A Anbalagan, to speak on the demands for grants to some departments he wanted a clarification whether the House would take up a private member resolution he had given notice of to urge the Centre to announce economic sanctions against Sri [...]

(PTI) China and Pakistan have backed Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council as Colombo sought to prevent the Secretary General Ban Ki Moon’s special panel report from being discussed at the session on Monday.

Plantation Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe who heads the government delegation at the 18th session of the UN Human Rights Council, told the state owned – Lakhanda – radio on the telephone that China and Pakistan had spoken in support of Sri Lanka.

"Pakistan pledged their [...]

(PTI) Sri Lanka on Wednesday recalled its deputy ambassador to Germany and Switzerland, Jaghat Dias, a former general that rights groups have accused of war crimes, Swiss media said.

The Sankt-Galler Zeitung newspaper and ATS news agency said the information was provided by diplomatic sources, but the missions in Berlin and Geneva did not comment.

Two rights groups last month filed a criminal complaint with Swiss authorities against Dias for alleged war crimes.

The Swiss attorney general’s office confirmed it received [...]

(PTI) Describing China as its close friend, Sri Lanka on Thursday hailed Beijing’s support in its development with a host of projects and generous aid.

During the past five years, Sri Lanka has developed strong relations with not only China’s central government, but also with provincial governments on the basis of regular high- level exchanges, Lankan Prime Minister DM Jayaratne said.

Speaking at a forum at the 15th China International Fair for Investment and Trade, which is currently being held [...]