Former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa returns to Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka’s former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa who fled the country in July after thousands of protestors stormed his house and office in a display of rage over the country’s worst economic crisis, has finally returned to the country after seven weeks.
Rajapaksa arrived at Colombo’s Bandaranaike international airport on Friday (September 2) midnight. He was welcomed by party members post which he left in a heavily guarded vehicle for a government residence allocated to him.
Self-imposed exile
The 73-year-old leader had fled Sri Lanka under military escort in mid-July. He sent his resignation from Singapore before flying to Thailand. From Thailand, he petitioned Wickremesinghe to help in his return.
The former leader arrived back to Sri Lanka on a commercial flight from Bangkok via Singapore. His return ends his 52-day self-imposed exile.
Also Read: Sri Lanka President Wickremesinghe calls Rajapaksa to facilitate his return: Report
“He has been living in a Thai hotel as a virtual prisoner and was keen to return,” said a defence official to the media.
Tight Security
On Friday (September 2), police officers and armed guards were deployed outside the government residence allocated to Rajapaksa ahead of his arrival to Colombo.
Security was also stepped up outside Rajapaksa’s private residence.
Opposition, activist’s stance
Opposition politicians have accused Wickremesinghe of shielding the Rajapaksa’s.
Sri Lanka’s constitution guarantees bodyguards, a vehicle and housing for former presidents.
Also Read: Sri Lanka ruling party urges Wickremesinghe to facilitate return of ex-president Rajapaksa
Rajapaksa’s resignation ended his presidential immunity, argue rights activists. Activists said they would press for his arrest on multiple grounds, including his alleged role in the assassination of newspaper editor Lasantha Wickrematunge in 2009.
A spokesman for the Sri Lanka Young Journalists’ Association, Tharindu Jayawardhana, was quoted in a news report saying: “We welcome his decision to return so that we can bring him to justice for the crimes he has committed.”
Rajapaksa also faces charges in the US state of California over Wickrematunge’s murder and the torture of Tamil prisoners at the end of the island’s traumatic civil war in 2009.
Sri Lanka’s economic crisis
Sri Lanka has undergone months of shortage of crucial goods including food, fuel and medicines. The citizens have endured electricity blackouts and skyrocketing inflation as the country ran out of foreign currency to import essential items.
The Rajapaksa government defaulted on its $51 billion debt payment in April. According to Sri Lanka’s central bank, the country would experience a record eight per cent GDP contraction in 2022.