On Wednesday, the Indian High Commission in Colombo refused to have helped the outgoing Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa flee to the Maldives. Extending support to the people of Sri Lanka amid the mounting political and economic problems in the country, the High Commission said that the media reports which claimed that India helped Rajapaksa escape from Sri Lanka were ‘baseless and speculative’.
“High Commission categorically denies baseless and speculative media reports that India facilitated the recently reported travel of the President of Sri Lanka and Basil Rajapaksa, founder and national organizer of SLPP, out of Sri Lanka. It is reiterated that India will continue to support the people of Sri Lanka”, the Commission tweeted.
In the series of tweets, it also added that the High Commission will stand by the people of Sri Lanka as they seek to realize their aspirations for prosperity and progress through democratic means and values, established democratic institutions, and a constitutional framework. To allow a peaceful succession of power, Gotabaya Rajapaksa has pledged to formally step down as president on Wednesday.
Reportedly, the Sri Lankan Prime Minister’s office announced earlier today that President Gotabaya, his wife, and other family members had left the country. Further according to the information provided by the Sri Lanka Air Force, the President landed at Male, the capital of the Maldives at about three in the morning. This is a week after the President left his official residence just before tens of thousands of protesters overran it.
Last night the Antonov-32 military aircraft that took off from Sri Lanka’s main international airport boarded President Rajapaksa, his wife, and two bodyguards to Male. Reports mention that on their arrival in the Maldives, the First Family was driven to an undisclosed location under police escort.
Some earlier reports had stated that Rajapaksa had left the country in a Navy ship around the time the protestors had stormed into his palace on July 9.
The Rajapaksas skipped four flights on Tuesday that were supposed to take them outside of Sri Lanka when immigration officials voiced their displeasure with allowing them to pass, as per the latest reports. The President and his family intended to bypass immigration and customs without having to stand in line with the general public, but authorities at immigration and the Colombo International Airport refused to comply.
The flights eventually took off without the Rajapaksas on board. Earlier on Tuesday midday, an enraged public detained Basil Rajapaksa, and immigration officials refused him passage to the aircraft by refusing to stamp his passport. Sloganeering ensued, and Basil soon fled the airport. He was supposed to go to Dubai, where he would have connected to another flight to Washington, DC.