Sri Lanka crisis: Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Saturday resigned as Prime Minister of the nation to make way for an all-party government to take over. The PM earlier said that he is willing to resign and make way for an all-party government. The Prime Minister's Media Division said that the Prime Minister will resign after an all-party government is established and the majority is secured in Parliament.
Here are 10 major developments on Sri Lanka's crisis
- President Gotabaya Rajapaksa will also resign immediately, sources told India TV. The speaker will act as President for a maximum of 30 days.
- Wickremesinghe told party leaders he was taking the decision to step down in view of the fact that island-wide fuel distribution is due to recommence this week, the World Food Programme Director is due to visit the country this week and the debt sustainability report for the IMF is due to be finalised shortly.
- The Parliament will elect an MP as the President for the reminder term.
- To appoint an interim all-party government, elections will be held soon.
- Sri Lankan protesters stormed President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s residence and nearby office on Saturday.
- Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of the capital Colombo
- Videos posted on social media showed protesters storming the residence, chanting “Gota go home,” calling the president by his nickname.
- Dozens were seen jumping into the pool, milling about the house and and watching television. Outside the building, barricades were overturned and a black flag was hoisted on a pole.
- At least 30 people, including two policemen, were injured in clashes between security personnel and protesters – some of them holding Sri Lankan flags and helmets.
- Sri Lanka, a country of 22 million, is under the grip of an unprecedented economic turmoil, the worst in seven decades, crippled by an acute shortage of foreign exchange that has left it struggling to pay for essential imports of fuel, and other essentials.
