Sri Lanka’s acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe declares emergency in island nation

Sri Lanka’s acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe has declared a state of emergency in the country. The move is aimed at handling the social unrest and tackling the economic crisis. According to a government notification issued late last night, emergency has been imposed in the interests of public security, the protection of public order and the maintenance of supplies and services essential to the life of the community. Acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe also urged the political parties to put aside their differences and form an all-party government which would allow the country to recover from the economic crisis as he assured the public that talks with the IMF were nearing conclusion.

Meanwhile, Singapore has issued an ultimatum to ex-Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Singapore authorities have told him that he cannot continue to stay in the country beyond the 15 days that they had initially granted. The announcement follows Rajapaksa’s resignation whilst in exile. He fled to the Maldives on July 13 and then landed in Singapore the next day. Gotabaya Rajapaksa sent his resignation letter on July 14 through an email to the Parliament Speaker, days after protesters stormed the presidential palace demanding his resignation.