Sri Lanka Economic Crisis Updates: India Receives No Request on Landing of Prez Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s Air Force Jet, Say Sources
Sri Lanka Crisis Updates: Sri Lanka’s president was considering using a navy patrol craft to flee the island Tuesday following a humiliating standoff with airport immigration, official sources said. Gotabaya Rajapaksa has promised to resign on Wednesday and clear the way for a “peaceful transition of power” following widespread protests against him over the country’s worst economic crisis.
The 73-year-old leader fled his official residence in Colombo just before tens of thousands of protesters overran it on Saturday. He then wanted to travel to Dubai, officials said.
Sri Lanka’s embattled president was flown to an airbase near the main international airport Monday, officials said, raising speculation he will escape into exile abroad.
Hours later, the parliamentary speaker announced Rajapaksa would resign on Wednesday to allow a “peaceful transition of power”. The 73-year-old leader had taken refuge at a navy facility in the island’s northeast, a top defence official said, adding that he was brought to the Katunayake airbase adjoining the country’s main international airport.
“He and his entourage were flown back to Colombo in two Bell 412 choppers,” the official added. There was no official word from the president’s office about his whereabouts, and several local media reports speculated he was set to leave for Dubai later Monday.
But four commercial flights subsequently took off for Middle Eastern destinations without him, airport officials said. Immigration officers were refusing to go to the VIP suite to stamp his passport, while he insisted he would not go through the public facilities, they added — a humiliating stand-off for the leader once known as ‘The Terminator’.
A military source said Rajapaksa, who remains the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, had the option of travelling in an air force aircraft. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s office said Rajapaksa had officially informed him of the president’s intention to resign, without specifying a date.
Sri Lanka’s political parties on Monday initiated steps to form an all-party government and subsequently elect a new President on July 20 to prevent the bankrupt nation sliding further into anarchy.
The entire Sri Lankan Cabinet will resign and hand over their responsibilities to a new all-party interim government as soon as it is formed, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe’s office said on Monday, as the country grappled with political and economic crises. It said all members of the cabinet have agreed to hand over their responsibilities to a new all-party government as soon as it is formed.
“All the ministers who participated in the discussion were of the opinion that as soon as there is an agreement to form an all-party government, they are ready to hand over their responsibilities to that government, the PM Office said.
(with inputs from agencies)
