Sri Lanka braces for PM Narendra Modi's visit on Sunday

Agencies
June 7, 2019

Colombo, Jun 7: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will briefly visit Sri Lanka on Sunday during which he will hold discussions with President Maithripala Sirisena, according to the president's office here.

Modi will be the first foreign leader to visit the island nation after the Easter bombings that killed over 250 people, including 11 Indians.

This will be Modi’s third visit to Sri Lanka. Earlier, he visited the country in 2015 and 2017.

"The Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to arrive in Colombo on Sunday for a visit limited to a few hours. The re-elected Indian leader will be on transit from the Maldives," president Sirisena’s office said.

The Indian Prime Minister who will arrive at 11 am is to attend an official luncheon hosted by the Sri Lankan President Sirisena and hold bilateral talks.

Sri Lankan police said they have made elaborate security arrangements for the visit, including traffic movement restrictions during the day.

In New Delhi, the External Affairs Ministry said that Prime Minister Modi is visiting the country with a very clear message of solidarity and signalling our confidence in the Sri Lankan government in overcoming the tragedy.

Asked whether India will help Sri Lanka deal with the scourge of terrorism, the ministry said on Thursday it was ready for any assistance to any country of the region.

Sri Lanka was hit by a wave of bombings on April 21. The attacks came despite prior intelligence warnings from India.

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Agencies
November 22,2025

indiapak.jpg

New York/Washington: US President Donald Trump has again claimed to have solved the conflict between India and Pakistan, repeating his assertion during a meeting with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani in the Oval Office.

Mamdani flew to Washington DC for his first meeting with Trump in the White House on Friday. Trump said he “enjoyed” the meeting, which he described as “great.”

During remarks in the Oval Office, with Mamdani standing next to him, Trump repeated his claim that he solved the May conflict between India and Pakistan.

"I did eight peace deals of countries, including India and Pakistan,” he said.

On Wednesday, Trump had said he threatened to put 350 per cent tariffs on India and Pakistan if they did not end their conflict, repeating his claim that he solved the fighting between the nuclear-armed neighbours and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had called him to say “we're not going to go to war.”

Since May 10, when Trump announced on social media that India and Pakistan had agreed to a “full and immediate” ceasefire after a “long night” of talks mediated by Washington, he has repeated his claim over 60 times that he “helped settle” the tensions between India and Pakistan.

India has consistently denied any third-party intervention. India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam attack that killed 26 civilians. India and Pakistan reached an understanding on May 10 to end the conflict after four days of intense cross-border drone and missile strikes.

Mamdani emerged victorious in the closely-watched battle for New York City Mayor, becoming the first South Asian and Muslim to be elected to sit at the helm of the largest city in the US.

He had been the front-runner in the NYC Mayoral election for months and defeated Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa and political heavyweight former New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo, who ran as an independent candidate and was officially endorsed by Trump just hours before the elections.

Indian-descent Mamdani is the son of renowned filmmaker Mira Nair and Columbia University professor Mahmood Mamdani. He was born and raised in Kampala, Uganda and moved to New York City with his family when he was 7. Mamdani became a naturalised US citizen only recently, in 2018.

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