Sri Lanka crisis: Demand for PM Ranil Wickremesinghe’s resignation grows; protests intensify

Sri Lanka crisis: Wickremesinghe declared an emergency and imposed a curfew in the western province of the country on July 13 as protesters came prepared to face tear gas shelling.

HIGHLIGHTS

• The meeting was held on Wednesday where the current situation of the country was discussed
• The Members of Parliament were briefed about the situation by CDS and IGP
• The country is facing a severe shortage of fuel and other essential supplies

Sri Lanka crisis: In order to tackle the ongoing political crisis in Sri Lanka, leaders of political parties met and decided that Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe should resign immediately to resolve the current situation in the country. The meeting was held on Wednesday and as per the media reports, all party leaders discussed the current situation in the country at length.

Chief of Defense Staff, the Commanders of the three-armed forces and the Inspector General of Police briefed the Members of Parliament about the current security situation.

The speaker mentioned that the President informed him via phone that his resignation letter will be submitted before 12 midnight today (July 13) as he had announced to the country, NewsWire reported.

Several other ministers also marked their presence during the party leaders’ meet in the Sri Lankan parliament.

Sri Lanka plunges into deep economic crisis: Updates so far

After President Gotabaya Rajapaksa escaped to the Maldives, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was made the interim President of Sri Lanka.

Wickremesinghe declared an emergency and imposed a curfew in the western province of the country on July 13 as protesters came prepared to face tear gas shelling by security forces in the country.

The country is facing a severe shortage of fuel and other essential supplies and is in the throes of its worst economic crisis with soaring inflation.

The oil supply shortage has forced schools and government offices to close until further notice.

Reduced domestic agricultural production, a lack of foreign exchange reserves, and local currency depreciation have fuelled the shortages.

The economic crisis will push families into hunger and poverty – some for the first time – adding to the half a million people who the World Bank estimates have fallen below the poverty line because of the pandemic.

(With inputs from ANI)

News Sources – India Tv News