{"id":78530,"date":"2022-07-12T18:18:44","date_gmt":"2022-07-12T22:18:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=78530"},"modified":"2022-07-12T19:10:07","modified_gmt":"2022-07-12T23:10:07","slug":"president-gotabaya-rajapaksa-his-wife-and-a-bodyguard-among-four-passengers-on-board-an-antonov-32-military-aircraft-which-took-off-from-katunayake-international-airport-heading-for-the-neighbouring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=78530","title":{"rendered":"President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, his wife and a bodyguard among four passengers on board an Antonov-32 military aircraft which took off from Katunayake international airport heading for the neighbouring Maldives, according to immigration sources."},"content":{"rendered":"


\nSri Lanka\u2019s embattled President flew out of his country early on Wednesday, in a probable prelude to his resignation after months of widespread protests over the island nation\u2019s worst-ever economic crisis.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gotabaya Rajapaksa had promised during the weekend to resign on Wednesday and clear the way for a \u201cpeaceful transition of power\u201d, after fleeing his official residence in Colombo just before tens of thousands of protesters overran it.<\/p>\n

As President, Mr. Rajapaksa enjoys immunity from arrest, and he is believed to have wanted to go abroad before stepping down to avoid the possibility of being detained.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

He, his wife and a bodyguard were among four passengers on board an Antonov-32 military aircraft which took off from the main international airport heading for the neighbouring Maldives, according to immigration sources.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir passports were stamped and they boarded the special air force flight,\u201d an immigration official involved in the process told AFP.<\/p>\n

The departure of the 73-year-old leader once known as \u2018The Terminator\u2019 had been stymied for more than 24 hours in a humiliating stand-off with immigration personnel at the airport.<\/p>\n

He had wanted to fly to Dubai on a commercial flight, but staff at Bandaranaike International withdrew from VIP services and insisted that all passengers had to go through public counters.<\/p>\n

The presidential party were reluctant to go through regular channels fearing public reactions, a security official said, and as a result missed four flights on Monday that could have taken them to the United Arab Emirates.<\/p>\n

Clearance for a military flight to land in the closest neighbour India was not immediately secured, a security official said, and at one point on Tuesday, the group headed to a naval base with a view to fleeing by sea.<\/p>\n

Mr. Rajapaksa\u2019s youngest brother Basil, who resigned in April as finance minister, missed his own Emirates flight to Dubai early on Tuesday after a tense standoff of his own with airport staff.<\/p>\n

Basil \u2014 who holds U.S. citizenship in addition to Sri Lankan nationality \u2014 tried to use a paid concierge service for business travellers, but airport and immigration staff said they had withdrawn from the fast track service.<\/p>\n

\u2018Unity government\u2019
\nBasil had to obtain a new U.S. passport after leaving his behind at the presidential palace when the Rajapaksas beat a hasty retreat to avoid mobs on Saturday, a diplomatic source said.<\/p>\n

Official sources said a suitcase full of documents had also been left behind at the stately mansion along with 17.85 million rupees in cash, now in the custody of a Colombo court.<\/p>\n

There was no official word from the President\u2019s office about his whereabouts, but he remained commander-in-chief of the armed forces with military resources at his disposal.<\/p>\n

Mr. Rajapaksa is accused of mismanaging the economy to a point where the country has run out of foreign exchange to finance even the most essential imports, leading to severe hardships for the 22 million population.<\/p>\n

If he steps down as promised, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will automatically become acting President until parliament elects an MP to serve out the presidential term, which ends in November 2024.<\/p>\n

But Mr. Wickremesinghe has himself announced his willingness to step down if consensus is reached on forming a unity government.<\/p>\n

The succession process could take between three days \u2014 the minimum time taken to convene parliament \u2014 and a maximum of 30 days allowed under the statute. If Mr. Rajapaksa does step down on Wednesday, the vote would take place on July 20, the parliamentary speaker has said.<\/p>\n

The leader of the main opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya party, Sajith Premadasa, who lost the 2019 presidential election to Mr. Rajapaksa, has said he will stand for the position.<\/p>\n

Mr. Premadasa is the son of former President Ranasinghe Premadasa, who was assassinated in a Tamil rebel suicide bombing in May 1993.<\/p>\n

Sri Lanka defaulted on its $51-billion foreign debt in April and is in talks with the IMF for a possible bailout.<\/p>\n

The island has nearly exhausted its already scarce supplies of petrol. The government has ordered the closure of non-essential offices and schools to reduce commuting and save fuel.<\/p>\n

Courtesy;The Hindu<\/em><\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sri Lanka\u2019s embattled President flew out of his country early on Wednesday, in a probable prelude to his resignation after months of widespread protests over the island nation\u2019s worst-ever economic crisis. Gotabaya Rajapaksa had promised during the weekend to resign on Wednesday and clear the way for a \u201cpeaceful transition of power\u201d, after fleeing his …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, his wife and a bodyguard among four passengers on board an Antonov-32 military aircraft which took off from Katunayake international airport heading for the neighbouring Maldives, according to immigration sources.’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78530"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=78530"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78530\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78531,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78530\/revisions\/78531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=78530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=78530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=78530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}