Sri Lanka: PM must resign immediately to resolve crisis, say ministers

In order to tackle the ongoing political crisis in Sri Lanka, leaders of political parties met and decided that Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe should resign immediately to resolve the current situation in the country.

It was discussed at the special meeting held in Parliament this afternoon (13) with the participation of the members of the Committee on Parliamentary Business and the party leaders that the Prime Minister should resign from his position as soon as possible to resolve the current crisis situation in the country.

As per media reports, all party leaders discussed the current situation in the country at length and the Chief of Defence Staff, the Commanders of the three-armed forces and the Inspector General of Police briefed the Members of Parliament about the current security situation.

The Speaker mentioned that the President informed him via phone that the resignation letter of the President would be submitted before 12 midnight on July 13 as he had announced to the country, NewsWire reported.

Minister of Public Security Tiran Alles, Members of Parliament Maithreepala Sirisena, Lakshman Kiriella, Anura Dissanayaka, Mano Ganesan, Vasudeva Nanayakkara, Weerasumana Weerasinghe, Douglas Devananda, Gayantha Karunatilleka, Ranjith Madduma Bandara, Gevindu Cumaratunga, Rauff Hakeem, Dr V Radhakrishnan, Udaya Gammanpila, Rev Athuraliye Rathana Thero, MA Sumanthiran, Hon. Angajan Ramanathan, Tissa Vitharana marked their presence during the Party Leaders' meeting in the Sri Lankan parliament.

After President Gotabaya Rajapaksa escaped to the Maldives, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was made the interim President of Sri Lanka.

Wickremesinghe declared an emergency and imposed a curfew in the western province of the country on July 13 as protesters came prepared to face tear gas shelling by security forces in the country.

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The country is facing a severe shortage of fuel and other essential supplies and is in the throes of its worst economic crisis with soaring inflation.

The oil supply shortage has forced schools and government offices to close until further notice.

Reduced domestic agricultural production, a lack of foreign exchange reserves, and local currency depreciation have fuelled the shortages. The economic crisis will push families into hunger and poverty - some for the first time - adding to the half a million people who the World Bank estimates have fallen below the poverty line because of the pandemic.

• Asia