Sri Lankan opposition leader G L Peiris to visit India

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister G L Peiris will arrive in New Delhi tomorrow to invite India for the heads of Commonwealth Summit to be held here in November. Some political parties have asked India not to participate in the Summit to protest against alleged human rights violation by Rajapaksa's government.

During his visit Peiris is also likely to discuss bilateral issues with Indian authorities.

Peiris's visit will be followed the country's main opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe three day-visit to India, starting Monday.

The visits comes ahead of Sri Lanka's much-awaited provincial council election in Tamil-dominated northern areas, to be held on September 21 after a gap of 25 years.

There was no confirmation whether the United National Party (UNP) leader will be in New Delhi for a official visit or not, but his office said that Wickremesinghe would be making some official engagements.

In recent weeks, Wickremesinghe has stepped up his agitation against President Mahinda Rajapaksa's government.

On Wednesday, UNP and the opposition coalition staged a street demonstration against the military crackdown on a recent protest by the residents of small town in the country's northwest, leading to the death of three people.