The President of Sri Lanka Maithripala Sirisena called Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the telephone on Wednesday, to categorically reject reports in sections of the media about him alluding to India’s involvement in any manner in an alleged plot to assassinate him and the former Defense Secretary of Sri Lanka Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.
Indian Minister of State for External Affairs M.J.Akbar has tweeted to say that he is resigning to be able to fight the defamation case he has filed against #MeToo accuser journalist Priya Ramani “in his personal capacity.”
Denying reports that he had told the Sri Lankan cabinet about RAW’s hand in the alleged plot to assassinate it him, President Maithripala Sirisena said in a press release that some vested interests had resorted to “such venomous manipulations” which are detrimental to the existing good relations between Sri Lanka and India.
“The President had spoken in general terms about secret services of countries attempting to assassinate leaders. This happens even in America, the President said, and added that the Prime Minister of India might not be aware of it. There was no mention of RAW at all,” said Shiral Lakthilaka, Advisor and Coordinating Secretary to President Sirisena.
Sri Lanka’s President Maithripala Sirisena shocked his cabinet Tuesday by accusing neighboring India of plotting to assassinate him on the eve of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s visit to New Delhi, a ministerial source told the Colombo-based website Economynext.
Meera Srinivasan, The Hindu’s correspondent in Sri Lanka and Ananth Krishnan, Visiting Fellow at Brookings India who was formerly The Hindu’s correspondent in China, go beyond accusations of sexual exploitation in India’s newsrooms to suggest ways to clean up the place which is still in the grip of patriarchy and is a happy hunting ground for sexual predators.
Indian Minister of State for External Affairs, M.J. Akbar on Monday filed a criminal defamation case in Delhi’s Patiala House court against journalist Priya Ramani who, along with over 10 other women, had accused him of sexual harassment. Ramani has said that truth is on her side and that she will not give in to intimidation.
India and China launched a program on Monday to train Afghan diplomats and China’s ambassador said it would likely be followed by joint programs in other fields to help war-torn Afghanistan.
Celebrated Indian TV anchor Suhaib Ilyasi is a devout Muslim, who was in prison for 18 years for allegedly murdering his wife. In jail, he made sure that he didn’t miss out on his daily namaz, but he also faithfully read Hindu scriptures Bhagavad Gita and the Upanishads for solace and strength and taught the Hindu scriptures to fellow inmates to share the spiritual benefits he had derived from them.
“Accusation without evidence has become a viral fever among some sections. Whatever be the case, now that I have returned, my lawyers will look into these wild and baseless allegations in order to decide our future course of legal action,” ANI quoted Akbar as saying in a statement.