Sri Lankan Prime Minister (PM) Ranil Wickremesinghe declared a state of emergency after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled to the Maldives in the early hours of Wednesday, just days after protesters stormed his residence and forced him to resign over the country’s spiralling economic crisis.
Videos on social media showed Rajapaksa reaching the Maldives and leaving the airport with strict security. The Maldives Journal reported that he was received at the airport by the Maldivian Parliament’s speaker, Mohammed Nasheed.
According to sources cited by Colombo Page, immigration officials approved his request to leave along with his wife and two bodyguards. The Sri Lankan Immigration and Emigration Officers’ Association said immigration officials did not have the power to bar the President, who is the top office holder, from leaving the country.
Sri Lanka Air Force confirms President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his wife have been flown out of the country to Maldives on an Air Force plane pic.twitter.com/zV4S0hkUPJ
— Sidhant Sibal (@sidhant) July 13, 2022
The Air Force confirmed that a military plane was deployed to leave Sri Lanka for the Maldives, noting that the president exercised his executive power, subject to the approval of the defence ministry and immigration laws, to leave the Katunayake International Airport.
Rajapaksa reportedly attempted to leave the country on several occasions since protestors barged into the Presidential Palace on Saturday. According to The Hindu, Rajapaksa’s visa request to leave for the United States (US) was rejected. He previously gave up his American citizenship in 2019 to contest in the presidential election. An embassy source said that while previously he could previously travel to the US as a head of state, he was denied entry on this occasion because he has now resigned from the post.
Rajapaksa also attempted to flee to India. According to SBS Sinhala, the Indian government denied him permission to land the air force plane in a civilian airport. The Indian High Commission in Sri Lanka also rubbished reports accusing New Delhi of assisting Rajapaksa to escape from Sri Lanka.
High Commission categorically denies baseless and speculative media reports that India facilitated the recent reported travel of @gotabayar @Realbrajapaksa out of Sri Lanka. It is reiterated that India will continue to support the people of Sri Lanka (1/2)
— India in Sri Lanka (@IndiainSL) July 13, 2022
Responding to a question on whether India would provide asylum to the ousted leader, Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said that India is focussed on resolving the economic crisis and does not want to interfere in other matters.
Aside from the president, on Tuesday, Sri Lankan Immigration and Emigration officials barred the president’s brother, former Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa, from leaving the country. Basil Rajapaksa resigned from his post back in April amid intensifying protests over severe shortages of fuel, food, and other essential items. He also stepped down as a member of parliament last month.
Reports -
— Geeta Mohan گیتا موہن गीता मोहन (@Geeta_Mohan) July 13, 2022
Speaker of The Maldives Parliament, Md. Nasheed, had received Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the First lady at the airport in Malé, last night.
That is @MohamedNasheed's cavalcade going into the airport
(Video via media in the Maldives) pic.twitter.com/qm3IrWPWGf
The chair of the Sri Lankan Immigration and Emigration Officers Association, KAS Kanugala, said that in light of the surging public unrest in the country, officials are under “tremendous pressure to not allow top-level people to leave the country.” To this end, he said that until the issues are addressed, the “VIP lounge [has] decided to withdraw their services.”
On Saturday, protestors entered the president’s house, forcing him to flee to an undisclosed location, and even burned down PM Wickremesinghe’s private residence. Rajapaksa subsequently vowed to resign on Wednesday. However, reports suggested that he would only officially step down after he and his family had successfully escaped the country. That being said, there has been no confirmation on whether he will resign today as promised.