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COLOMBO: As protests raged unchecked in Sri Lanka, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, who heads the clan in power, on Monday appealed to the people to end the anti-government protests, saying every minute spent on the streets deprived the cash-strapped country of precious dollars.
Mahinda, who was president for two terms before his brother Gotabaya took over, said in his address to the nation that the government was working round-the-clock to overcome the economic crisis.
This was Mahinda’s first public appearance since the protests began and came amid bids by president Gotabaya Rajapaksa to form an all-party government. The opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), meanwhile, continued its efforts to move a no-trust motion against the government in the parliament.
“We understand the people’s sufferings. We have to strengthen the economy. We will take the responsibility to resolve the economic issue in the same way we ended the 30-year war,” Mahinda said, referring to his 2009 military victory over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) that ended the civil war. “It will be dangerous to reject parliament,” he said of the protesters’ demand that all 225 parliamentarians quit. Blaming opposition Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna for the protests, Mahinda recalled the JVP rebellions of the 1970s and 1980s.
Talks to establish an all-party interim government to deal with the unprecedented economic crisis, however, remained inconclusive. On Sunday, president Gotabaya had invited 42 parliamentarians from 11 parties for a discussion on the country’s economic crisis.
On the opposition front, SJB MP Harsha De Silva told TOI that his party was confident of getting the desired simple majority of 113 to back its no-trust motion against the government for the “gross mismanagement of the country’s economy and its poor economic policies”.
(With agency inputs)
Mahinda, who was president for two terms before his brother Gotabaya took over, said in his address to the nation that the government was working round-the-clock to overcome the economic crisis.
This was Mahinda’s first public appearance since the protests began and came amid bids by president Gotabaya Rajapaksa to form an all-party government. The opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), meanwhile, continued its efforts to move a no-trust motion against the government in the parliament.
“We understand the people’s sufferings. We have to strengthen the economy. We will take the responsibility to resolve the economic issue in the same way we ended the 30-year war,” Mahinda said, referring to his 2009 military victory over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) that ended the civil war. “It will be dangerous to reject parliament,” he said of the protesters’ demand that all 225 parliamentarians quit. Blaming opposition Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna for the protests, Mahinda recalled the JVP rebellions of the 1970s and 1980s.
Talks to establish an all-party interim government to deal with the unprecedented economic crisis, however, remained inconclusive. On Sunday, president Gotabaya had invited 42 parliamentarians from 11 parties for a discussion on the country’s economic crisis.
On the opposition front, SJB MP Harsha De Silva told TOI that his party was confident of getting the desired simple majority of 113 to back its no-trust motion against the government for the “gross mismanagement of the country’s economy and its poor economic policies”.
(With agency inputs)
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