India announces $450 mn line of credit for infra development in Sri Lanka

India announced a $400-million line of credit for infrastructure development in Sri Lanka within hours of the arrival of President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa amid domestic upheavals in the island nation over the past one year.

Cooperation in fighting terrorism was the highlight of the official meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa who also met National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.

India announced a special line of credit of $50 million for strengthening Sri Lanka's abilities to counter terror threats and another $400 million line of credit for infrastructure development in the island nation.

“In Sri Lanka, terrorists targeted the collective human heritage and diversity,” said Prime Minister Modi, recalling the April 21 Easter bombings in the neighbouring country to which he had referred during the campaign for general elections in India and on his trips abroad.

Rajapaksa discussed his government's willingness to cooperate with India in countering international terrorism. He thanked India for inviting him soon after being elected to the office of President. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had flown to Colombo to congratulate the newly elected leader on November 19. This is Rajapaksa's first foreign visit after he became president.

Modi pointed out that India had been building housing units in the northern and eastern parts of Sri Lanka to assist those displaced in 2009 war. India had built 46,000 houses for the internally displaced people in the Tamil areas.

Rajapaksa's visit to India is being viewed as a significant step, especially since Sri Lanka intends to boost investment in the infrastructure sector in the coming days.

Right now, the country is facing straitened financial circumstances. Rajapaksa’s first initiative as president was to announce a slash in VAT rates, almost by 50 per cent, possibly in anticipation of the parliamentary elections that are due later this year but will likely be advanced. The elections are expected to usher in Rajapaksa's party, the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) to power in parliament as well. If that happens, former president and his elder brother, Mahinda Rajapaksa will almost certainly become prime minister.

In 2015, when the presidential election was last held in which the Rakjapaksa family lost power, Mahinda Rajapaksa had publicly blamed India for his defeat. This time, India has been proactive in keeping itself out of the election scenario, avoiding becoming a factor in domestic politics.

However, there has been some concern about the extent to which the Sinhala-Buddhist constituency has been nurtured and nourished politically by the Rajapaksas: Ranging from overt appeals to the Viharas (Buddhist temples) and their Thero (head monks) to veiled criticism of Tamils.

When the results came out, Gotabaya Rajapaksa said bluntly that although the northern and eastern provinces (dominated by Tamils and Muslims) had not voted for him he would strive to be president for all Sri Lanka’s people.

Buoyed by the victory, it seems the Sinhala Buddhist majority felt its prospects were boosted: Just before the visit, several Tamil language signboards in Colombo were defaced, prompting Mahinda Rajapaksa to hit out at the vandalism, vowing tough action against those who ‘did not want the President’s India trip to be a success’. There has been no evidence of any sort of outcry in Tamil Nadu about the extent to which New Delhi and Colombo have vowed to cooperate.

On the fishermen issue, Modi said both sides agreed to continue talks and deal with the issue with a constructive and humane approach.

On his part, Gotabaya, terming the talks as “very cordial and reassuring”, said security was an area of major focus and Sri Lanka was looking forward to India’s continued support in intelligence sharing.

Sri Lanka extends emergency for third month after Easter Day blasts

Sri Lanka on Saturday extended a law granting security forces emergency powers into third month following the Easter Day bomb attacks on hotels and churches that killed more than 250 people.

Allowed to detain and interrogate suspects without court orders, Sri Lanka’s police and military have arrested more than 100 suspects in the crackdown after the Islamist militant attacks.

President Maithripala Sirisena issued orders for the law to be extended for another month from midnight on Friday, according to a gazette notification seen by Reuters.

Authorities say the threat of more attacks has been contained and security services have dismantled most of the network linked to the bombings, but operations were still underway to find any remaining suspects.

Sirisena said in the notification that extending emergency rule was “in the interest of public security, the preservation of public order and the maintenance of supplies and services essential to the life of the community.”

The attacks sent shockwaves through the Indian Ocean island state, which had enjoyed relative peace since a civil war ended a decade ago. The economy has slowed worryingly, forcing the government to seek foreign loans, and the lucrative tourism industry has been hit.

Despite three advance intelligence reports from India that attacks were being planned, Sri Lanka’s top defence officials failed to act before the Easter Day suicide bombings by Islamist militants that targeted three churches and three luxury hotels.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks that killed more than 250 people, including 42 foreigners, though Sri Lankan authorities have blamed two little known domestic groups: the National Thawheedh Jamaath (NTJ) and Jamathei Millathu Ibrahim.

Both have been banned under the emergency regulations.

Sirisena told foreign diplomats in May that he planned to lift the emergency once the security situation was “99 percent” back to normal.

Suicide bombers visited Kashmir, Kerala for training: Sri Lanka Army chief

Sri Lanka Army's chief has said that some of the suicide bombers who carried out the country's worst terror attack on Easter Sunday visited Kashmir and Kerala for "some sorts of training" or to "make some more links" with other foreign outfits.

It is the first time that a top Sri Lankan security official has confirmed the militants' visit to India which had shared intelligence inputs with Colombo ahead of the attack.

Nine suicide bombers, including a woman, carried out a series of devastating blasts that tore through three churches and three luxury hotels on April 21, killing 253 people and injuring over 500 others.

In an interview to BBC, Lieutenant General Mahesh Senanayake, Commander of the Army, divulged some details on the movements of the suspects in the region and also international links.

"They (the suspects) have gone to India, they've gone to Kashmir, Bangalore, they've travelled to Kerala state. Those are the information available with us," he said.

Asked what activities they were doing in Kashmir and Kerala, the Army chief said: "Not exactly, but definitely in some sorts of training or to make some more links towards the other organisations outside the country".

The Islamic State terror group claimed the attacks, but the government blamed local Islamist extremist group National Thowheeth Jamaath (NTJ).

Sri Lanka banned the NTJ and arrested over 100 people in connection with the blasts.

About the possibility of an involvement of a foreign group, the Commander said that by looking at the pattern of operation and the places that the suspects travelled, there has to be some outside involvement of some leadership or instructions.

Asked why the threats were not taken more seriously after receiving information from India, Senanayake said: "We had some information and intelligence-sharing, situations and military intelligence on a different direction and the others were different and there was a gap that everybody could see today".

He said that as the Chief of the Army, he believes that everybody who is responsible for intelligence-gathering and the national security is to be blamed, including the political hierarchies.

Asked why Sri Lanka was targeted, the Commander said: "Too much of freedom, too much of peace for the last 10 years. People forget what happened for 30 years. People are enjoying peace and they neglected security".

He was referring to the three-decade civil war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) which ended in 2009 after claiming at least 100,000 lives.

"We are deployed on the ground to give confidence to the public and ensure there is no violence or escalation of communal riots in this country. Have trust on the armed forces and the Police of this country who will bring normalcy as soon as possible," the Army chief added.

Sri Lanka blasts LIVE: Six explosions at 5-star hotels, churches; 49 dead

Six near simultaneous blasts hit three churches and three hotels frequented by tourists in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, injuring nearly 300 people, officials and police said.

The blasts occurred at around 8.45 a.m. (local time) as the Easter Sunday masses were in progress in churches, police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera said.

Three churches - St Anthony's Church in Colombo, St Sebastian's Church in the western coastal town of Negombo and another church in the eastern town of Batticaloa - were targeted, police said.

Three explosions were reported from the five-star hotels, the Shangrila, the Cinnamon Grand and the Kingsbury.

The Colombo National Hospital spokesperson, Dr Samindi Samarakoon, said at last 280 people have been admitted with injuries.

It was not immediately clear if the blasts had caused casualties.

"A bomb attack to our church, please come and help," read a facebook post from St Sebasitian's Church at Katuwapitiutya, in the Western coastal town of Negombo.