As Sri Lankans continue to protest against the government amid the country’s worst-ever economic crisis, the army vowed to uphold the Constitution and not to interfere with the anti-government demonstrations across the island. Rejecting rumours that the Gotabaya Rajapaksa government may use the military to launch a crackdown on the protesters near the presidential secretariat, the army said it would not resort to violence to quell the protests.
Meanwhile, the Colombo Stock Exchange will remain temporarily closed for a week from Monday to provide investors with an opportunity to have “more clarity and understanding” of the current economic conditions in crisis-hit Sri Lanka and help them make “informed investment decisions”, PTI reported.
|Sri Lanka: The protesters
Take a look at the top developments here
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🔴 A Sri Lankan government delegation is headed to the US on Sunday to engage with the IMF to secure a USD 4 billion package as it desperately tries to salvage the country’s beleaguered economy currently reeling under a severe forex crisis. The delegation led by newly-appointed finance minister Ali Sabry will hold talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) between April 19 and April 24, news agency PTI reported.
Sabry has said that Sri Lanka is seeking a bail out package of USD 4 billion from the IMF, having earlier resisted calls to seek a facility from the global lender.
The visit is taking place days after the finance ministry on Tuesday announced that it is suspending repayments of foreign debt, including bonds and government-to-government borrowing, pending the completion of a loan restructuring programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Sri Lanka had to meet USD 7 billion of debt payments this year.
🔴 The Sri Lankan Army said it would not use violence to suppress protests against the government in the country. The army made it clear in a statement that it will intervene only if the police “call us to assist them.”
“Troops, as everyone witnessed in the past few days, have not at all interfered with any of those peaceful protesters or organisations, nor have they acted against the interests of the State as disciplined members of an organisation which brought peace to this country through immense and invaluable sacrifices,” according to the statement.
The army also dismissed rumours that it was training personnel to assault the protesters.
🔴 “The stock market will remain temporarily closed for a period of five business days from April 18, 2022,” the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka (SEC) said in a press release. The Board of Directors of the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) called on the SEC to temporarily close the stock market citing the present situation in the country, the release said, PTI reported. Many other stakeholders of the securities market, including the Colombo Stock Brokers Association, have also sought the temporary closure of the market on the same grounds.
🔴 Meet the man with the most unenviable job in Sri Lanka — Finance Minister Ali Sabry. Sabry has previously served as the country’s defence minister, where he had to defend his government’s decision not to allow the burial of Muslims who died of Covid-19. The minister was faced with stiff criticism from the public. Now, Sabry, a lawyer by profession, has been assigned the mammoth task of putting a detailed economy back on track.
🔴 Galle Face is Colombo’s showpiece seafront. Nearly seven decades ago, the Federal Party representing the country’s Tamils held a one-day satyagraha on the green next to the sea, opposite what was then the parliament building. That same site is now the centre of another peaceful protest. Thousands of mostly young Sri Lankans have gathered here daily since April 9 demanding that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his other family members in office, including his brother Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, step down.
🔴 Alongside the grave economic crisis looming in the country, hundreds of people staged a silent protest in Sri Lanka’s capital on Sunday, demanding justice for the victims of the Easter terror attacks that claimed at least 270 lives three years ago, news agency PTI reported.
The protesters joined hundreds of people camping near the President’s Office in Colombo seeking resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and all members of his family from the government over the worst economic crisis that has caused critical shortages of fuel, food and medicines in the country.
Local Islamist extremist group National Thawheed Jamaat linked to the ISIS, had carried out coordinated blasts that tore through three churches and as many luxury hotels in Sri Lanka on the Easter Sunday in 2019, killing at least 270 people, and injuring over 500.
