News Desk :
On July 15, the Sri Lankan Supreme Court issued an order prohibiting former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and former Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa from going abroad. The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka issued an interim injunction barring former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and former Minister Basil Rajapaksa from leaving the country without the court’s approval until July 28, according to Daily Mirror.
Transparency International Sri Lanka, an anti-corruption organisation, tweeted that three additional former officials, including two former central bank governors, are also barred from leaving the country until July 28. The petition was heard by a five-judge panel of the Lankan Supreme Court, which included Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya, Justice Buwaneka Aluwihare, Justice Priyantha Jayawardena, Justice Vijith Malalgoda, and Justice LTB Dehideniya, according to the Daily Mirror.
A case was filed in the Supreme Court when Basil Rajapaksa, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s younger brother, was turned back at the Colombo airport as he attempted to leave the country through the VIP terminal earlier on July 12. A day before Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled to the Maldives and appointed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as acting president, Basil, 71, attempted to leave the bankrupt island nation.
This exacerbated the political crisis and set off a new round of protests in the nation that is currently experiencing the worst financial crisis in decades. The shortage of petrol, food, and other needs prompted Basil to step down as finance minister in early April. He also left his position in parliament in June. Basil is widely blamed for the nation’s biggest economic disaster, which has caused untold suffering for the populace.
The patriarch of the Rajapaksa family, Mahinda Rajapaksa, resigned from his position as prime minister on May 9 hours after members of his party attacked protestors opposed to the government outside Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s office. A Sri Lankan court had earlier in May prohibited Mahinda, 76, from leaving the country due to ongoing investigations into the fatal attack on anti-government protestors in Colombo.
Following his departure from the position, the former PM was being sheltered at the nation’s
Trincomalee naval facility. Days after Mahinda Rajapaksa’s resignation, Wickremesinghe was sworn in as Sri Lanka’s new prime minister by the then President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
“Given the unrest in Sri Lanka, immigration officials are under tremendous pressure to not allow top-level people to leave the country,” K.A.S Kanugala, chairman of the association, told Reuters.
“We are concerned for our security. So until this issue is resolved, the immigration officials working at the VIP lounge decided to withdraw their services.”
Pictures of Basil Rajapaksa at the lounge were reported by local media and widely shared on social media, with some expressing their anger at his attempts to leave the country. Basil Rajapaksa could not be immediately reached for comment and a close aide declined to give details.
A top official in the ruling party said on condition of anonymity that Basil Rajapaksa was still in the country.
The Rajapaksa family, including former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, has dominated the politics of the country of 22 million for years and most Sri Lankans have blamed them for their current misery.
The tourism-dependent economy was hammered badly by the COVID-19 pandemic, as were remittances from overseas Sri Lankans, while a ban on chemical fertilisers damaged farm output. The ban was later reversed.
The Rajapaksas implemented populist tax cuts in 2019 that affected government finances while shrinking foreign reserves curtailed imports of fuel, food and medicines.
Petrol has been severely rationed, and long lines have formed in front of shops selling cooking gas. Headline inflation hit 54.6% last month, and the central bank has warned that it could rise to 70% in the coming months.
Protesters have vowed to stay put in the president’s official residence until he quits. Some protesters also set fire to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s private residence in Colombo on Saturday.
Sri Lanka’s parliament will elect a new president on July 20, paving the way for an all-party government.
