Lanka: In a blow to govt, 3 MPs withdraw support

COLOMBO: Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who is under pressure to resign, was dealt a further blow on Wednesday when three more parliamentarians withdrew their support to the government.

Earlier this month, 39 lawmakers out of 156 MPs pulled their support to Rajapaksa in the 225-member parliament. The breakaway group, which sits independently, has declared not to align with any other coalition, including the opposition.

The independent group demands the formation of an all-party interim government with the resignation of the Rajapaksa family from power.

Sri Lanka Muslim Council (SLMC) MP Faizal Cassim informed parliament that he along with MPs Ishak Rahuman and M S Thowfeek will withdraw their support to the government. The three MPs were part of the opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) coalition, including from the SLMC.

They had been Rajapaksa’s allies since 2020 and voted for the controversial 20A which conferred absolute power on the president.

Widespread protests

Rajapaksa on Wednesday pledged an impartial and transparent inquiry into a police shooting that left one person dead and 13 others injured during protests over the country’s worst economic crisis in decades. It was the first shooting by security forces during weeks of protests and reignited widespread demonstrations across the Indian Ocean island nation.

Rajapaksa said in a tweet he was “deeply saddened” over the incident on Tuesday in Rambukkana, 90km northeast of the capital, Colombo, and urged “all citizens to refrain from violence as they protest”.

‘Restructure debt’

The International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday that it has asked cash-strapped Sri Lanka to “restructure” its huge foreign debt before a bailout programme could be finalised as anti-government protests escalated across the island.

Sri Lanka opened talks with the IMF this week after announcing its first ever default on external borrowings.

Earlier this year, the IMF warned Sri Lanka’s approximately $51 billion foreign debt was unsustainable.