Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa reportedly stranded in the Maldives, did not board flight to Singapore

BANGALORE - Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled his crisis-hit country amid anti-government protests, appears to be stranded in the Maldives on Thursday (July 14), even as reports said he was trying to fly out to Singapore or Dubai.

Sri Lanka's Daily Mirror reported that Mr Rajapaksa did not board a Singapore Airlines flight he was said to be taking to Singapore late on Wednesday night, because he was nervous about flying with civilian passengers.

The Daily Mirror said talks were ongoing to secure a private aircraft for him to depart from the Maldives to Singapore.

Mr Rajapaksa fled Sri Lanka early on Wednesday and arrived at the Maldivian capital Male on an air force plane with his wife and two security officers. He was reportedly hoping to fly out of Maldives to several possible destinations, including Singapore and Dubai.

He could not fly to the United States because the country refused to grant him a travel visa, reports said. He had held dual citizenship until he gave up his American passport to qualify for the presidential race that he swept in 2019.

Mr Rajapaksa was expected to formally resign on Wednesday, but he has not stepped down officially yet, despite his earlier promise to do so.

He could send his resignation to the Speaker of the Parliament after landing in Singapore, the Reuters news agency reported, citing a government source in Sri Lanka.

The President, who escaped before protesters stormed his residence on July 9, had promised he would step down "to ensure a peaceful transition of power".

Hours after he fled to the Maldives, the Speaker of the Parliament said the embattled leader had appointed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as acting president in his absence.

"Because of his absence from the country, President Rajapaksa told me that he has appointed the Prime Minister to act as the president in line with the Constitution," Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardana said in a brief televised statement.

The news prompted demonstrators to storm Mr Wickremesinghe's office in protest and demand his resignation as well.

The Acting President declared a nationwide state of emergency and curfew until Thursday morning. No arrests were made, said police spokesman Nalin Thalduwa.

Constitutional lawyer Suren Fernando said that according to the Sri Lankan Constitution, since the President appointed the Prime Minister to do the job in his absence, Mr Wickremesinghe could technically act as president till the end of Mr Rajapaksa's term in November 2024.

But Mr Wickremesinghe has assured that Parliament will choose a president on July 20.

"We cannot tear up the Constitution," Mr Wickremesinghe said, adding that some elements aided by politicians were trying to achieve their personal goals by stoking unrest. He did not name anyone.

He was speaking on a private TV channel after protesters took control of the state broadcaster Rupavahini on Wednesday.

Hundreds of protesters were still gathered outside the Presidential Secretariat, the Prime Minister's Office and Parliament in the wee hours of Thursday morning.

Police manned a barricade on the approach road to Parliament. Nearby, life returned to normal, with shops open and plenty of cars on the road. 

"We want Ranil to go home," Mr Malik Perera, a 29-year-old rickshaw driver who said he took part in the protests, told Reuters on Thursday. "They have sold the country, we want a good person to take over, until then we won’t stop."

Mr Jaliya Dissanayake, a 26-year-old protester who had a respiratory condition, reportedly died of asphyxiation last night from being exposed to tear gas while she was part of the protest near the Prime Minister's Office in Flower Road in Colombo.

Some protesters attacked two ambulances responding to emergency calls near Parliament late on Wednesday.

Mr Dumindra Ratnayaka, chairman of the 1990 Suwa Seriya Foundation that runs the ambulances tweeted that the "staff were harassed" saying they were Mr Wicremesinghe's people.

"We will stop responding to Aragalaya locations if one more is attacked," he said. Aragalaya is the Sri Lankan name for the ongoing anti-government protests.

Politicians across parties highlighted the dangerously volatile situation in the island nation, as the unpopular President and Prime Minister refuse to quit.

Just past midnight in Sri Lanka, legislator and economist Harsha de Silva from the main opposition party Samagi Jana Balawegaya tweeted a photo of President Rajapaksa with a cross scribbled across it.

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"It is 00:00 which means Gotabaya Rajapaksa lied. PM and so-called 'Acting President' lied that the letter of resignation will be received before the end of July 13. Actions of you people will lead to bloodshed and the end of democracy in Sri Lanka," he tweeted.

Former media minister Dullas Alahapperuma, presidential nominee of an independent faction in Mr Rajapaksa's People's Party, hoped that all leaders would follow the agreement made on July 9 to establish a cross-party government after getting the President and Prime Minister to resign, and elect new leaders on July 20.

The Parliament is expected to convene on Friday, when different parties will offer their presidential nominees to the Speaker, who can then hold the election for president on July 20.

"The longer it takes, the worse the ongoing unrest will get. Then nobody can stop Sri Lanka from descending into lawlessness," he said.

In the Maldives, too, hundreds of people gathered outside the Male airport demanding that the Maldives not grant refuge to President Rajapaksa.

Former foreign minister of Maldives Dunya Maumoon issued a video statement saying her Maldives National Party will submit a motion in Parliament questioning President Ibrahim Solih for "bringing Mr Rajapaksa" to the country without "respecting the wishes of the Sri Lankan people."

Sri Lanka has run out of fuel, staple food and life-saving medicines. It needs a stable government to provide urgent relief, curtail spiking 55 per cent inflation, negotiate with the International Monetary Fund for a bailout, and shore up dollars to import essentials.

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.