Colombo, September 12, 2012 | The
Hindu
Sri Lankan President Mahinda RajapaksePHOTO: AFP
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa is expected to meet President
Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his private visit to
the country next week, against the backdrop of attacks on pilgrims from this
country in Tamil Nadu.
Rajapaksa is set to meet the two leaders on September 20, External
Affairs Minister G L Peiris told reporters here today.
Rajapaksa is travelling to Sanchi in Madhya Pradesh on September 19 to
lay the foundation stone for the construction of a Centre for Buddhist Studies.
The meeting with the Indian Prime Minister would be the first for
Rajapaksa since India voted in favour of the anti-Sri Lanka resolution that
censured the nation over its human rights record at the UNHRC sessions in
Geneva in March.
The resolution said that Sri Lankan troops deliberately targeted
civilians during the last phase of the civil war with the LTTE which ended in
2009.
Although Sri Lanka – India relations have been rekindled since the
passage of resolution with a number of high-profile visits to country by Indian
dignitaries, the recent events which reflected anti-Sinhala sentiments in Tamil
Nadu have muddied the waters.
A parliamentary delegation led by Sushma Swaraj, the opposition leader
in the Lok Sabha, visited the country in April. External Affairs minister S M
Krishna visited Colombo prior to Swaraj’s delegation.Tamil Nadu Chief Minister
Jayalalithaa has been urging the Centre to curtail training for visiting Sri
Lankan defence officials in the state. She also ordered the return of a Sri
Lankan football team.
Following attacks against a group of Sri Lankan Catholic pilgrims in
Chennai, Sri Lanka issued a travel advisory warning against travel to the
Indian state.
Last week, Rajapaksa had said the Indian government responded positively
to his country’s request to guarantee the safety of its citizens and only a
small, politicallymotivated group was responsible for the harassment.
