Colombo, Aug 24 : Sri Lanka would soon set up committees led by Members of Parliament to investigate series of vigilante violence, sparked by a fear of night-time prowlers known as "grease devils".

The BBC quoted President Mahinda Rajapaksa as saying that committees led by government MPs will work with police to tackle the problem plaguing rural areas in Sri Lanka.

The "grease devils" have been accused of assaulting women at night in recent weeks, and residents have accused the security forces of involvement in the attacks.

It has been reported that Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa convinced a member of his Cabinet Saturday to end a hunger strike over U. N. allegations of human rights violations.

A groundswell of support seems to be building up to free the arrested former army chief Sarath Fonseka. But the army is likely to go ahead and initiate court martial proceedings against him, the first four-star general in its history.

A board, of three or five members, would be constituted to hear the evidence against Fonseka, accused of planning a coup among other things.

The court martial board would be headed by current chief of defence staff (CDS) and Sri Lankan air force chief, air marhsall Roshan Goonetilleke.

Chennai, Jan 1 : The Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) founder, V Gopalswamy (Vaiko), condemned the Union Government for inviting Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and giving a preferential treatment to him at the famous Tirupati temple.

Addressing the media here, Vaiko contended that the Union Government by keeping in view the state of Lankan Tamils should not have extended such a privilege to Rajapaksa.

Toronto, Dec 14 - Sri Lankan Tamils in Canada have called for an international trial of the Sri Lankan president for allegedly ordering the killing of surrendering LTTE leaders during the ethnic war that ended in May.

Former Sri Lankan army chief and opposition presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka has alleged that Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa ordered troops to kill three top LTTE leaders when they raised white flags to surrender.

The defence secretary is the brother of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Politics could estrange the most intimate bedfellows. The souring of relationship between President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, and his former army chief, Sarath Fonseka, has been rapid.

Falling apart less than six months after the defeat of the Tamil Tigers, they are now headed against each other for the January 26 Presidential polls. “Mother of all polls’’, it is being touted as.

Colombo, Nov 23 : Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse has decided to opt for a presidential election two years ahead of schedule, government sources said Monday.

Officials said the president had signed the proclamation calling for early presidential election, Xinhua reported.

Rajapakse conveyed his decision to leaders of his ruling coalition, ending months of speculation whether he would opt for the parliamentary or presidential elections.

The election date, likely to be in January 2010, is to be announced later.(IANS)

Hyderabad, Oct 31 : Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa Saturday offered prayers at the famous Lord Venkateshwara temple at Tirupathi in Andhra Pradesh.

Rajapaksa arrived in a special aircraft from Nepal, where he was on a pilgrimage, and after a 'darshan' at the temple atop Tirumala Hills left for Sri Lanka, officials said.

Accompanied by his wife and some officials, the Sri Lankan president landed at Renigunta airport near Tirupathi and drove straight to the world's richest Hindu temple.

Chennai, Oct 30 : Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, his wife and a group of officials will make a flying visit to Tirupathi for a darshan of Lord Balaji at Tirumala Saturday.

Rajapaksa will be arriving at Tirupathi in the morning from Nepal where he is currently on tour, and fly back to Sri Lanka after the deity's darshan.

While officials at Sri Lankan High Commission here declined to confirm their president's visit, the temple officials have confirmed the trip.

Rajapaksa's flight will first land in Renugunta near Tirupathi and from there, he will go to the temple by car.(IANS)

Kathmandu - Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa arrived in the Nepalese capital Kathmandu Thursday at the start of his three-day official visit.

The visit is Rajapaksa's second to the Himalayan nation this year.

In May, the Rajapaksa cut short his Nepal visit after gunmen attacked Sri Lankan cricket players in Pakistan.

Kathmandu, Oct 29 : Amid stringent security, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa arrived in Nepal Thursday on a three-day pilgrimage after his plans were interrupted earlier this year due to an attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Pakistan.

The former lawyer, whose government inflicted a crushing defeat on Tamil guerrillas in May killing their leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, is leading a high-level delegation on the visit, the main focus of which is to visit Lumbini in southern Nepal, the birthplace of the Buddha.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday said the allegations of irregularities in allocation of spectrum levelled by the Opposition against Telecom Minister A. Raja were not correct.

On repeated queries from mediapersons at a press conference at the end of his three-day Thailand visit, Singh replied: “In a democracy, political squabbling goes on, but that does not mean what the Opposition says is always correct.”

New Delhi, Oct 19 : MPs from Tamil Nadu who visited Colombo said Monday that President Mahinda Rajapaksa was unaware of Indian prisoners in Sri Lankan jails when they raised the subject with him.

DMK MP T. K. S. Elangovan said both Mahinda Rajapaksa and his brother-cum-senior adviser Basil Rajapaksa expressed ignorance when the MPs brought up the subject of around 40 Indian prisoners.

The issue of clearing anti-personnel mines planted by the LTTE, the Sri Lankan army (SLA) and even the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) is fast becoming a diplomatic minefield for President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Rajapaksa is under intense international pressure to hasten the process of resettlement of the displaced Tamils; the UN and US are pressurising it to send the refugees back home and the UK has called for a cut in international aid till resettlement picked up pace.

Kathmandu, Oct 5 : Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who had to cut short his visit to Nepal this spring after an attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Pakistan, is expected to arrive in the Himalayan republic once more this month to complete his itinerary.

Rajapaksa, who had arrived in Kathmandu on a three-day visit in March, curtailed his trip by a day after gunmen fired on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore.

It meant abandoning his plan to visit Lumbini in southern Nepal, the birthplace of the Buddha.

Colombo  - Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa Friday assured a visiting UN envoy that arrangements would be made to complete the resettlement of some
250,000 displaced civilians by end of January.

UN Under Secretary General for Political Affairs Lynn Pascoe visited refugees displaced by the civil war between the government and the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and pressed authorities to speed up their release from the government-controlled camps.

Colombo, May 21 : India's National Security Advisor M. K. Narayanan and Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon on Thursday met Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and sought a political solution to the Tamil question.

Narayanan and Menon, who met Rajapaksa at a close door breakfast meeting at his Temple Trees residence here, offered India's help in the reconstruction effort following elimination of the LTTE.

Pune, May 20 : Several Sri Lankan Tamils based in India have responded warily to President Mahinda Rajapaksa outreach after the elimination of the LTTE and its chief Vellupillai Prabhakaran.

Mariasoosai Sakkariyas is one such. He and his family fled Sri Lanka 29 years ago in a flimsy boat across choppy waters to Tamil Nadu. He longs for the day he can return to his homeland.

The curtains came down on the 33-month-long Eelam War IV with Sri Lankan Army decimating the LTTE, resulting in the death of at least 18 top leaders presumably including V. Prabhakaran, the LTTE chief.

Colombo, May 19 : The Sri Lanka President, Mahinda Rajapaksa, in his victory speech to the Parliament termed "the victory achieved by defeating the LTTE as the victory of the country" here on Tuesday.

He also assured the Tamils in the island nation, that protecting them was his responsibility, and that they would enjoy equal rights in the country.