Colombo:
Anti-government protesters in Sri Lanka continued to occupy the homes of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe on Sunday, a day after they raided the premises and set one of the buildings on fire to protest the country’s severe economic crisis, even then the island nation is still in the dark about the embattled president’s whereabouts.
Rajapaksa’s only communication outside since the protesters entered the city was with parliament speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, who announced late Saturday that the president would resign on Wednesday.
President Rajapaksa informed the chairman of this decision to quit after Abeywardena wrote to him requesting his resignation after the all-party meeting held on Saturday night.
The chairman would become the acting president in the absence of both the president and the prime minister. Later, there must be an election among the MPs to elect a new president. Prime Minister Wickremesinghe has also offered to resign.
Prime Minister Wickremesinghe, whose private home suffered an extensive arson attack last night, remains in position despite calls to stop.
In a statement Saturday night, Wickremesinghe, who is ready to resign, said that “this country is plagued by fuel and food shortages. An important visit is planned by the WFP next week, while crucial talks with the IMF must continue. So if the current government must stop, it must be replaced by the next one.” Speaker Abeywardena had asked President Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe to step down immediately to make way for an all-party government after the country witnessed its biggest protest yet amid an unprecedented economic crisis.
The IMF said on Sunday that it is closely monitoring ongoing developments in Sri Lanka and hoped that the political crisis will be resolved quickly so that dialogue on an IMF-backed program in the poor country can resume.
Defense Staff Chief General Shavendra Silva called for calm. He said there is now an opportunity to resolve the current political crisis peacefully and said the public should help the security forces maintain peace and stability.
Meanwhile, Colombo National Hospital said 102 people had been hospitalized with injuries. Among them are 11 media workers.
The police special task force was accused of brutally assaulting two television journalists during the protest at the prime minister’s private residence.
The attack caused the backlash that led to the house being set on fire by the protesters.
The main opposition party SJB said its constituent parties would meet this morning to take stock of the political situation.
At least four ministers have resigned. Agriculture Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said he would stop once he ceremonially receives the supply of fertilizer to arrive from India on Sunday.
“I will resign today after receiving the 40,000 tons of urea we received yesterday under the Indian credit line,” Amaraweera told reporters.
In May, the older brother of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa had to resign over mass anti-government protests.
The Rajapaksa brothers, Mahinda and Gotabaya, were hailed by many in Sri Lanka as heroes for winning the civil war against the LTTE, but are now being blamed for the country’s worst economic crisis.
The expected departure of President Rajapaksa on Wednesday and the resignation of Mahinda Rajapaksa as prime minister in May is a dramatic fall from favor for a powerful family that has dominated Sri Lankan politics for more than a decade.
Sri Lanka, a country of 22 million people, is in the throes of an unprecedented economic turmoil, the worst in seven decades, crippled by an acute foreign exchange shortage that leaves it struggling to pay for essential imports of fuel and other essentials.
The country, facing an acute currency crisis that resulted in foreign debt default, announced in April that it was suspending repayments of nearly $7 billion for this year of the roughly $25 billion owed through 2026.
Sri Lanka’s total external debt is $51 billion.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.)