BANGKOK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th July, 2022) Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the Sri Lankan president, arrived at the Velana International Airport located nearby the Maldivian capital of Male after fleeing his county on Wednesday, media reported.
On Monday, the country's air force provided a flight for the president, hours after he announced that he would resign this Wednesday, and his wife, according to Sri Lankan newspaper Daily Mirror. The flight took off from the Katunayake International Airport for the Maldives later in that day. The couple was accompanied by two security officers.
The flight was reportedly requested by the incumbent government and provided by the air force in accordance with the president's powers, the Sri Lankan constitution, the immigration, customs and other relevant laws, subject to the full endorsement of the Sri Lankan Defence Ministry.
Colombo, Sri Lanka's commercial capital, was rocked by thousand-strong protests this past weekend, caused by public dissatisfaction with the government's inefficiency in fighting the economic crisis. Angry crowds tore through barricades surrounding the president's residence, climbed over a fence and took control of the area. Rajapaksa was evacuated.
Following the unrest, Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe called an emergency meeting of political party leaders, who demanded that both the prime minister and president resign immediately. Parliament speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeiwardana was assigned to become the acting president.
On Monday, the president submitted his resignation, planning to step down on Wednesday, July 13. The resignation letter is now supposed to be handed over to Abeiwardana for the official announcement.
