TIME poll: MR ranked 6th place

President Mahinda Rajapaksa has been ranked sixth among the 100 most influential persons of 2011, leaving behind all other top political icons and celebrity stars in the world and some Hollywood superstars in 2011, according to a survey conducted by Time magazine.

TIME says that since ending Sri Lanka's 26-year-long war against the Tamil Tigers in 2009, and grabbing control over once independent institutions like commissions on human rights and elections, President Mahinda Rajapaksa has come to dominate the institutions of his nation more than any other democratically elected head of state.

TIME outlines that President Rajapaksa challenged the United States, the European Union and the United Nations to prosecute him for war crimes. It also says President Rajapaksa is confident that Russia, China and India would not support it-the latter two have billions of investment at stake in Sri Lanka.

President Rajapaksa who is 65 has taken the island nation to the fore front globally, after becoming the first head of state in the 21st Century to crush terrorism in the world. He is now directing Sri Lanka to become the ‘Wonder of Asia’ ushering great economic plan for the country.

source: http://www.dailymirror.lk/news/10905-time-poll-mr-ranked-6th-place-.html