Lanka extends emergency and arrests key protest leaders
Two activists who helped lead mass protests arrested; USAID chief calls on China to restructure Sri Lanka’s debt
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s parliament approved the extension of a state of emergency for a month on Wednesday, a lawmaker said, in a bid to get a grip on a political and economic crisis that has forced a change of leadership.
Then acting-president Ranil Wickremesinghe had declared a state of emergency on July 17. It allows for the military to be given powers to detain people, limit public gatherings and search private property.
The vote passed 120-63 in the 225-member parliament. The other lawmakers abstained. The decree, which gives the president the power to make regulations in the interest of public security and order, has to be approved every month.
Wickremesinghe declared a state of emergency last week as acting president before lawmakers elected him to serve the remainder of Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s five-year term until 2024. Rajapaksa fled Sri Lanka ater thousands of protesters stormed the president’s official residence and other buildings. He later resigned from Singapore.
Rulingpartymemberswhobackwickremesinghe said that while protests were reasonable at the beginning of the crisis, groups that don’t believe in parliamentary democracy and want to capture power through unconstitutional means had infiltrated the demonstrators and were creating disturbances. Opposition parties criticised the emergency as a government move to stifle dissent.
Police said in separate statements that they had arrested activists Kusal Sandaruwan and Weranga Pushpika on unlawful assembly charges.
Ater Rajapaksa fled, Sandaruwan was seen in social media footage counting a large cache of banknotes found in the president’s home.
Police have also released photographs of 14 suspects wanted in connection with an arson attack on Wickremesinghe’s home on the same day the president’s office and residence were overrun.
Police last week demolished the capital’s main anti-government protest camp in a pre-dawn assault that raised alarm among foreign diplomats and rights groups.
Also on Wednesday, Gotabaya was granted permission to stay a further 14 days in Singapore, where he landed two weeks ago via Maldives, two sources familiar with the mater told Reuters. The extension will last until Aug.11, they said.
If Gotabaya returned to Sri Lanka, he might not be protected under law if any charges were filed against him, legal experts said.
Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court extended overseas travel ban till Aug.2 on former prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and former finance minister Basil Rajapaksa.
Basil, younger brother of Gotabaya, was recently prevented from leaving Sri Lanka following protests by passengers and officials at the airport.
Former Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa was on Wednesday granted permission to stay a further 14 days in Singapore, where he landed two weeks ago via Maldives, two sources familiar with the mater said.
The extension will last until Aug.11, they said. Singapore’s immigration authority did not respond to a request for confirmation of the move.
The Singaporean government has said he had not been granted asylum but was in the country on a private visit.
“It is my belief he may eventually consider returning to Sri Lanka but there is no definite political or other stance on this,” Sri Lankan government spokesperson Bandula Gunwardena said on Tuesday.
If Rajapaksa returned to Sri Lanka, he might not be protected under law if any charges were filed against him, legal experts said.
“His immunity was only for the duration of his time in office as president. He can be prosecuted for criminal conduct, including bribery and corruption,” lawyer Luwie Niranjan Ganeshanathan said.
Meanwhile, two activists who helped lead mass demonstrations that toppled Rajapaksa were arrested on Wednesday, police said, as parliament extended tough emergency laws imposed to restore order.
Wickremesinghe had declared a state of emergency on July 17.
It allows for the military to be given powers to detain people, limit public gatherings and search private property.
The latest extension means it will continue for a month before it must be approved again, the lawmaker said.
Police said in separate statements that they had arrested activists Kusal Sandaruwan and Weranga Pushpika on unlawful assembly charges.
Ater Rajapaksa fled, Sandaruwan was seen in social media footage counting a large cache of banknotes found in the president’s home.
Police have also released photographs of 14 suspects wanted in connection with an arson atack on Ranil Wickremesinghe’s home on the same day the president’s office and residence were overrun.
The arrests of the two activists come a day ater student leader Dhaniz Ali was nabbed when he boarded a flight at the country’s main airport in the evening.
Police said there was a warrant for his arrest in connection with a magistrate’s court case, without giving further details.
Wickremesinghe, who served six terms as prime minister, took over as president in a parliamentary vote ater Rajapaksa quit.
He has outlined plans to have a donor conference involving India, China and Japan ater Sri Lanka secures a rescue line from the Interenational Monetary Fund (IMF).
He said on July 18 that negotations with the IMF were nearing a conclusion.
The head of the main US humanitarian organisation meanwhile criticised China for financing what she called opaque loans to the island nation and funding non-essential infrastructure.
Calls to provide more significant relief have not been answered, Samanatha Power, head of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), said in a speech in the Indian capital New Delhi.
“The biggest question of all is whether Beijing will restructure debt to the same extent as other bilateral creditors,” she said during a visit to India, warning that the crisis in Sri Lanka, albeit a result of different factors, wasn’t unique.
“It is really essential that Beijing participate in debt relief transparently and on equitable terms with all other creditors,” Power said.
China is Sri Lanka’s third-biggest lender, behind international financial markets and the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Japan is also a major lender.
Over the last decade and a half China has lent Sri Lanka more than $5 billion for projects including highways, a port, an airport and a coal power plant. But critics charge the funds were used for white elephant projects with low returns, which China has denied.
Sri Lanka is in talks with China for up to $4 billion in assistance to help navigate the financial crisis.
The country of 22 million people has been crippled by an economic crisis, with shortages of fuel, food and other necessities.