Skip to main content

"No Home To Go To": Lanka President On House Burnt Down By Protesters

'No Home To Go To': Lanka President On House Burnt Down By Protesters

Wickremesinghe said that demanding him to go home is just a waste of time.

Colombo:

Sri Lanka's President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Sunday said that there is no point in demanding that he "goes home" as he has no home to go to while referring to the threats received from the protestors.

Speaking in Kandy, a city in Sri Lanka, Wickremesinghe said that some people have threatened to stage protests, demanding that he goes home, Colombo Gazette reported.

In response, Wickremesinghe said, "I am appealing to you not to do that as I have no home to go to."

Wickremesinghe said that demanding him to go home is just a waste of time instead the protesters should try to rebuild his burnt house.

"No point telling a man who has no home, to go home," he said, adding that after his house is rebuilt then the protesters can demand that he goes home.

The President said that the protesters must either rebuild the country or rebuild his house, Colombo Gazette reported.

He highlighted that the unrest had delayed a possible deal with the International Monetary Fund to help pull the bankrupt nation out of its economic crisis and urged political parties must work together on finding permanent solutions to the issues faced by Sri Lanka.

He further said that there is no point in blaming former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa for the economic crisis but rather urged all political parties to come together to take the country out of the economic mess and repay the debt.

Wickremesinghe noted that the protests had delayed a possible deal with the IMF which was progressing after he assumed duties as Prime Minister.

"The negotiations stalled due to instability in the island nation over the past few weeks as agitators stormed the nation amid extreme fuel and food shortages," he said.

The President reiterated that other countries are not willing to offer financial assistance to the island nation until a deal is reached with the IMF. Sri Lanka needs to find ways to repay its loans as IMF will not fully resolve the issues faced by the country.

Notably, on July 9, Sri Lankan protesters broke into then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's private residence and set it on fire, angered by the unprecedented economic crisis.

Just a few hours ago with the demand for then President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's resignation, they stormed into the compound, tore down security cordons placed by police, took a dip in the swimming pool and romped through his kitchen and home.

Several journalists were also attacked by the security forces after which more protestors gathered in the area, Daily Mirror reported.

Earlier, the police fired tear gas at the protesters but despite that, they entered his house and set the house on fire.

Following this, Wickremesinghe, who was appointed as Prime Minister in May, announced his resignation from his post in order to ensure the continuation of the government and the safety of all the citizens.

On July 21, following the resignation of then President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Wickremesinghe was sworn in as President of Sri Lanka in Parliament before Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya. He was elected as president in an election held in Parliament on July 20.

Notably, Sri Lanka is suffering its worst economic crisis since gaining independence in 1948, which comes on the heels of successive waves of COVID-19, threatening to undo years of development progress and severely undermining the country's ability to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The protests came after the worsening economic situation in the country led to increasing tensions and reports of several confrontations between individuals and members of the police force and the armed forces at fuel stations where thousands of desperate members of the public queued for hours and sometimes days amid the fuel shortage.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Adblock test (Why?)



from NDTV News- Special https://ift.tt/1jvkDm0 https://ift.tt/9wVkQ5t
via IFTTT

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

North Korea Says It Tested New Strategic Cruise Missile

North Korea test-fired a new generation of strategic cruise missile on Wednesday. (Representational) Seoul: North Korea fired several cruise missiles towards the Yellow Sea on Wednesday, Seoul's military said, the latest in a series of tension-raising moves by the nuclear-armed state. Hours later, North Korea appeared to confirm the firing, saying it had carried out its first test of a new generation of strategic cruise missiles it is developing, the Pulhwasal-3-31. Pyongyang has accelerated weapons testing in the new year, including tests of what it called an "underwater nuclear weapon system" and a solid-fuelled hypersonic ballistic missile. "Our military detected several cruise missiles launched by North Korea towards the Yellow Sea at around 7:00 am today," the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. Unlike their ballistic counterparts, the testing of cruise missiles is not banned under current UN sanctions against Pyongyang. Cruise...

18-Year-Old Killed By Friends Over Mobile Game Password In Bengal: Cops

According to cops, accused "friends" attempted to burn the victim after killing him. (Representational) Kolkata: An argument over sharing the password of an online mobile game allegedly led to the murder of a teenage boy by four of his friends in West Bengal's Murshidabad district, a senior police officer said. The body of 18-year-old Papai Das, who had been missing since January 8, was discovered near Nishindra Ghat of the feeder canal in Farakka on Monday, police said. Papai, a class 10 student, was reportedly killed by his four "close" friends after a disagreement over sharing the password for a mobile online game. The accused individuals have been arrested, police added. "These five individuals used to play online games at one of the quarters of the Farakka Barrage. The victim went out on the evening of January 8 and never returned. On January 9, the family lodged a police complaint. "Based on preliminary investigations, we discovered that...

"Jaiswal Has Run Ahead Of Gill": Ex-India Star's Massive T20 WC Verdict

Former India opener Aakash Chopra has suggested that Yashasvi Jaiswal is slightly ahead of Shubman Gill in the pecking order as captain Rohit Sharma's partner at the top in T20Is. Since making his debut last year, Jaiswal has been in stunning form in the shortest format of the game. Gill's form, on the other hand, has dipped since the ODI World Cup last year in India. With the T20 World Cup scheduled to be held later this year, Chopra feels Jaiswal will open the innings with Rohit during the tournament. "It's clear that Yashasvi Jaiswal has run ahead of Shubman Gill. Yashasvi is ahead in the two-horse race, Gill is lagging slightly behind. Gill was played in the first match, dropped in the second, and wasn't played in the third as well," Chopra said on his YouTube channel. Jaiswal helped India beat Afghanistan in the second T20I earlier this week, scoring a quickfire fifty. Considering his recent form across formats, Chopra emphasised that Jaiswal has ...