Ex-Prez Gotabaya Rajapaksa to return to Sri Lanka on Saturday: Report

Colombo [Sri Lanka], September 1 (ANI): Almost two months after fleeing to Thailand, former president of Sri Lanka Gotabaya Rajapaksa will return back to the island nation on Saturday, a media report said.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe made arrangements for his return upon a request by Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) as a result of which the president is reported to have contacted Rajapaksa to discuss arrangements for his return to the country, Daily Mirror reported citing a source close to him.
The former president fled the county following mass agitations calling for his resignation on July 9 and is currently in Thailand.
Rajapaksa fled Sri Lanka in the early hours of July 13 after massive protests erupted in Colombo and demonstrators angry with the country’s economic crisis stormed his official residence and office.
He resigned as president after reaching Singapore, where he was issued a 14-day visit pass.
On August 11, the former President reached Thailand following a request from the Sri Lankan government. Tight security has been provided to his Mirihana residence. However, Thailand has denied reports that the former Sri Lankan President has sought asylum in the country.
The Thailand Foreign Ministry said it received a request from Rajapaksa to visit the country with no intention of seeking political asylum.
Earlier, former Sri Lankan Ambassador to Russia, Udayanga Weeratunga, who is also related to Gotabaya, hinted that Rajapaksa will return to the country on August 24.
Thailand was the second Southeast Asian country after the Maldives that Rajapaksa was seeking temporary shelter in after fleeing his island nation last month amid mass protests. Sri Lankan Parliament Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena announced the official resignation of Rajapaksa on July 15. After the resignation of Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Ranil Wickremesinghe was sworn in as President of Sri Lanka on July 21 in Parliament.
He was earlier appointed as interim president of Sri Lanka as Rajapaksa fled abroad after his palace was stormed by angry protesters amid the unprecedented economic crisis.
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). (ANI)