Thaindian News

Kathmandu, Oct 29 (IANS) Amid stringent security, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa arrived in Nepal Thursday on a three-day pilgrimage after his plans were interrupted earlier this year due to an attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Pakistan.
The former lawyer, whose government inflicted a crushing defeat on Tamil guerrillas in May killing their leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, is leading a high-level delegation on the visit, the main focus of which is to visit Lumbini in southern Nepal, the birthplace of the Buddha.

Arriving on a special flight, the 63-year-old was welcomed at the Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu by the Deputy Prime Minister Sujata Koirala, who is also the foreign minister, and Culture Minister Minendra Rijal.

The Sri Lankan president will separately meet Nepal’s President Ram Baran Yadav, Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and other senior ministers and parliamentarians.

On Friday, he will fly to Lumbini to inaugurate a vihar - a Buddhist monastery built by the Sri Lankan government. Sri Lanka is predominantly Buddhist.

The island nation is also the current chair of the regional grouping, South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, and efforts are on between the member countries, especially Nepal, India and Sri Lanka, to promote religious tourism.

Rajapaksa had visited Kathmandu in May to inaugurate direct flights by the Sri Lankan national carrier, Sri Lankan Airlines, between Colombo and Kathmandu.

However, he cut his visit short and returned home without visiting Lumbini after gunmen opened fire on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore.

Rajapaksa is the first head of state to visit Nepal after it became a republic with the end of a decade-long communist insurgency.