Mahinda Rajapaksa

Friday, Apr 19, 2024 | Last Update : 09:24 AM IST

Security personnel walk past a burned vehicle along a road, a day after they were torched by protesters in Colombo on May 10, 2022. (Photo by ISHARA S. KODIKARA / AFP

Mahinda flees to Navalbase as Rajapaksa houses burnt

Shoot orders in Colombo, India backs 'democracy, stability'

11 May 2022 8:26 AM

Government supporters and Police clash outside the President's office in Colombo on May 9, 2022. - Violence raged across Sri Lanka late into the night on May 9, 2022, with five people dead and some 180 injured as prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa quit after weeks of protests. (Ishara S. KODIKARA / AFP)

Mahinda Rajapaksa faces calls for arrest as Sri Lanka violence claims eight lives

Rajapaksa has been accused by the Opposition of inciting the ruling party mobs to attack peaceful protesters by making a defiant speech

10 May 2022 11:31 AM

Activists stage a mock ritual to exorcise demons outside the official residence of Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa while demanding the resignations of Mahinda and President Gotabaya Rajapaksa over the country's crippling economic crisis, in Colombo (Ishara S. KODIKARA / AFP)

Lanka crisis: Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa may offer resignation today

Rajapaksa was hooted and catcalled by the angry public who are on the streets demanding fuel, cooking gas and an end to power cuts

09 May 2022 12:15 PM

Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa sings the national anthem of Sri Lanka during the country's Independence Day celebration in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Feb. 4, 2022. (AP file image)

Sri Lanka PM Mahinda Rajapaksa proposes Constitutional amendment

Mahinda Rajapaksa intends to propose a new Constitutional Amendment to the Cabinet in order to fulfil the people's aspirations

19 Apr 2022 11:41 AM

Protesters take part in a demonstration against the economic crisis at the entrance of the president's office in Colombo on April 17, 2022, demanding the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa over the country's crippling economic crisis. (ISHARA S. KODIKARA / AFP)

Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa appoints new Cabinet of 17 ministers

The Cabinet appointment came as the island-wide protests continued to force the resignation of the president and his family

18 Apr 2022 12:50 PM

Protestors hold banners and placards during a demonstration against the surge in prices and shortage of fuel and other essential commodities in Colombo on April 3, 2022. (Ishara S. KODIKARA / AFP)

Sri Lanka's Cabinet of Ministers resigns, as country faces its worst economic crisis

Political experts said the ministers came under intense pressure from the public over the govt's alleged mishandling of the economic crisis

04 Apr 2022 10:39 AM

Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa (left) and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa. (AFP)

Sri Lanka's proposed replacement of 19th Amendment faces resistance within ruling party

PM Rajapaksa will be the hardest-hit by the amendment, while his brother Gotabaya Rajapaksa will gain full legal immunity as President

13 Sep 2020 1:08 PM

New Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse (L) and his wife Shiranthi Rajapaksa (2R) gesture as they arrive for the new cabinet swearing-in ceremony at the Buddhist Temple of the Tooth in the ancient hill capital of Kandy, some 116 km from Colombo on August 12, 2020.(AFP)

Sri Lanka's new Cabinet ministers include four Rajapaksas

The Cabinet members took oaths in the presence of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his elder brother Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa

12 Aug 2020 4:02 PM

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa greets supporters following his election victory in the general election at his residence in Tangalle, Sri Lanka. (AP)

Rajapaksa sworn in as PM in Sri Lanka, cementing family rule

Rajapaksa is highly popular among the ethnic majority Sinhalese for ending the country’s 25-year civil war against Tamil rebels in 2009

09 Aug 2020 10:51 AM

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, left, and former Defense Secretary and his brother Gotabaya Rajapaksa wave to supporters. (AP)

All in the family: Sri Lanka's political Rajapaksa dynasty

The powerful clan has held sway over the island nation's politics for decades, as well as having a major influence in key state institutions

07 Aug 2020 2:27 PM

Sri Lanka's President Gotabaya Rajapaksa (front) leaves a polling station after casting his ballot in the parliamentary election in Colombo. (AFP)

Rajapaksa brothers win by landslide in Sri Lanka's election

Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa is likely to be sworn in the same position by his younger brother, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa

07 Aug 2020 9:56 AM

Rajapaksas must try to heal civil war’s wounds

The Tibet Autonomous Region’s more than 40 ethnic minorities account for 95 per cent of its population.

11 Feb 2020 1:45 AM

Low expectations

His saying that he would talk to elected Tamil representatives may be a ruse to dodge the real issue.

11 Feb 2020 1:38 AM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with his Sri Lankan counterpart Mahinda Rajapaksa during a reception at Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi on Saturday. (Photo: ASIAN AGE)

PM Modi raises Tamil reconciliation

Lanka PM Rajapaksa omits any mention of this in his statement.

09 Feb 2020 2:33 AM

Mahinda Rajapaksa has returned to power as prime minister after leading his younger brother's successful election campaign. (Photo: FIle)

Top detective, who probed officials under Mahinda's rule, flees Lanka after ‘threats’

Inspector Nishantha Silva has sought asylum in Switzerland, according to media reports.

26 Nov 2019 2:06 PM

Gotabhaya Nandasena Rajapaksa and Mahinda Rajapaksa

Sri Lanka: Return of the Rajas

In the new President, Gotabhaya Nandasena Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka and its international interlocutors have a mixture of both.

24 Nov 2019 8:44 AM

Sri Lanka’s President-elect Gotabaya Rajapaksa waves at supporters as he leaves the election commission office in Colombo on Sunday. (Photo: AFP)

Heed this message from the island

Prudent diplomacy would allow the Family to prove sincerity vis-à-vis those assurances of peace and development.

24 Nov 2019 8:39 AM

Sri Lanka’s President Gotabaya Rajapaksa (right) greets his brother Mahinda after appointing him as Prime Minister at the presidential secretariat in Colombo on Thursday. (Photo: AP)

Rajapaksas’ raj: Mahinda takes charge as PM

Former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, former President Maithripala Sirisena and other political leaders were present on the occasion.

22 Nov 2019 1:46 AM

Mahinda Rajapaksa is credited with a military victory ending a 26-year separatist civil war with ethnic Tamil rebels during his presidency from 2005 to 2015. (Photo: ANI)

Credited with ending civil war, Mahinda Rajapaksa sworn-in as Lanka Prime Minister

Ranil Wickremesinghe stepped down as prime minister earlier Thursday to clear the way for the president to form his government.

21 Nov 2019 2:16 PM

Mahinda Rajapaksa has served as president from 2005 to 2015. (Photo: File)

Sri Lanka's Mahinda Rajapaksa will be sworn as PM today

Leaders of the parties that backed Gotabaya during the presidential polls will be given preference in the Cabinet.

21 Nov 2019 10:32 AM

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Mohan Guruswamy