President Rajapaksa, who fled from Sri Lanka, went to Maldives with 15 family members in a military plane, including four brothers and his son Nikal. As per the sources, he left to Male which is the capital for Maldives. Dramatic developments took place in Sri Lanka, which is reeling from economic and political crisis. There were reports that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa tried to flee the country along with Sati. Officials also said that he is ready to flee the country by air and water. He first tried to go to Dubai by air. However, he was stopped by immigration officials at the airport. Officials said that they tried to flee to Dubai in a naval patrol vehicle by sea.
President Rajapaksa who announced
the resignation on July 13th, has put condition that he will resign
once he is allowed to leave Sri Lanka. It is known that he left his official
residence when protesters attacked him. After that, he decided to go to Dubai,
officials said. It is believed that by leaving the country in the capacity of
the President, he was careful not to be arrested or detained. However, the
first couple spent a night at the military base next to the Bandaranaike
International Airport after the authorities refused. Four flights to Dubai have
already left. However, it is learned that some of Gotabaya's close friends in
the military have negotiated to escape him by sea.
Gotabaya's younger brother, former
finance minister Basil Rajapaksa also tried to leave the country on Tuesday.
But people who saw him informed the authorities. This alerted the authorities
and arrested him. As Basil also has Sri Lankan citizenship, he tried to escape from
the VIP terminal. However, the immigration officials stopped him. Airport
officials said that other passengers who noticed Basil protested against him.
Meanwhile, the current Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe will be sworn in as
the Interim President on Wednesday. The Speaker announced that the election of
the new President will be held in the Parliament on 20th of this month as per
the provisions of the Constitution. He said that the process of nominations
related to this will be taken up on 19th.
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