After Failed Dubai Escape Bid, Sri Lankan Prez Gotabaya Rajapaksa Flees To Maldives With Family

Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa who is at the center of the ongoing anti-government protests on the island has fled the country.

According to the government, the President, his wife and two bodyguards left on a Sir Lankan Air Force flight to the neighbouring country on Tuesday night, hours before he was to step down from his post.

AP/ File

The Air Force which confirmed the development said that the operation was carried out at the request of the current government.

Will he resign today?

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka's parliamentary speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena has confirmed that he is yet to receive the resignation letter of the President.

Earlier he had said that President Rajapaksa had agreed to step down from his post on 13th July.

AP/ File

With Rajapaksa fleeing the country, what happens to his resignation is yet to be seen.

There are also some reports that Rajapaksa had handed his resignation to a top official and it will reach the Speaker on Wednesday itself.

Had tried to flee to Dubai earlier

This was Rajapaksa's second reported attempt to flee the country amid the turmoil.

The President along with his family was shifted to a Sri Lankan Navy ship on Friday night, hours before his official residence was run over by hundreds of thousands of protesters on Saturday.

AP

On Tuesday it was reported that the President tried to flee to Dubai, but was not allowed.

SBS Sinhala has claimed that Rajapaksa and his delegation were supposed to fly to Dubai on Sri Lankan Airlines flight UL225 by an aviation department official, but were stopped by the authorities from visiting the public immigration counters for security reasons.

After this, he was asked to go to Bandaranaike airport to get his passport stamped. When he went there, the officials there also stopped him from going to the VIP or VVIP lounge.

According to airport sources, the President and his relatives and aides later tried to board Etihad flight EY267, but could not board the flight due to technical reasons.

Once Sri Lanka's most powerful family, now on the run

His brother and former Sri Lankan minister Basil Rajapaksa also tried to flee to Dubai, only to be turned away at the airport.

The Rajapaksas, including Mahinda, Gotabaya, Basil and Chamal were the power centers in the Island nation for a long time.

AP

But an unprecedented economic crisis, in which the opposition and protesters blame the government, saw their influence on the country being overrun by public anger.

Mahinda was the first to face the heat and in May he was forced to resign as the Prime Minister.

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