COLOMBO: Sri Lanka's former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa who fled the country after anti-government protesters stormed his official residence on July 13, will return to Sri Lanka on Saturday.
In the wake of months of street protests over Sri Lanka's worst-ever economic crisis that led to the acute shortage of basic essential commodities like food, fuel, medicine and cooking gas, Rajapaksa, who came to power with a thumping Sinhala Buddhist majority votes in November 2019, announced his quitting 2-and-a-half years before the end of his term.
With the intervention of former Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed, Rajapaksa left in secret, first to the Maldives and subsequently to Singapore.
Following the intervention of the Sri Lankan government, Rajapaksa who holds a diplomatic passport, flew to Thailand where he was allowed a 90-day stay. Rajapaksa's first attempt to leave Sri Lanka and enter the US, where his son resides with his family, had been unsuccessful since Washington wouldn't grant him a visa.
Rajapaksa, a former dual citizen, had to renounce his US citizenship in order to run for president in 2019. As he welcomed Rajapaksa's return, Jagath Kumara, an MP from the former president's Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) party, told the media, "The President should not have left the country but he could have given up the presidency while living in Sri Lanka."
"He is a citizen of Sri lanka and nobody can take the legslation into his or her hand," the MP said when he was asked about the safety of the former President.
Earlier, Ranil Wickremesinghe, the current president, had said Rajapaksa shouldn't enter the nation again because of safety concerns.
How Sri Lanka’s new president plans to revive the economy
President of Sri Lanka to present emergency budget
Sri Lanka Prez directed to ensure Gotabaya Rajapaksa's return