Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa flew to Buddhism's holiest shrine in India on Friday as protests erupted in parts of the country against his two-day pilgrimage. Rajapaksa was on a "personal visit" to the Mahabodhi temple in Bodh Gaya in the northern state of Bihar, where Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, attained enlightenment. He was later to travel to the Tirupati Balaji temple in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh to take part in morning prayers on Saturday.
An estimated 3,000 Tamils participated in protests organized by the regional Dravida Munnetra Kazagham party in Chennai city, capital of the southern state of Tamil Nadu, broadcaster NDTV reported. Security was also tight in Bodh Gaya, following a threat from the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) to protest against his visit, the IANS news agency reported.
A 26-year civil war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, who sought a separate state for Sri Lanka's minority Tamils, ended in May 2009 with the rebels' defeat and tens of thousands of civilian casualties. Tamil leaders allege that the Sri Lankan leader was responsible for killing many innocent Tamils and demand that he should be tried in an international court.
Activists from Tamil political parties took to the streets in national capital New Delhi and Andhra Pradesh, demanding that the Sri Lankan government should be held accountable for alleged atrocities against Sri Lankan Tamils. They denounced Rajapaksa for reportedly ruling out autonomy for Tamil areas in the island nation.