Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, on Monday, appealed to people to end protests, and said every minute spent on the streets in protest deprives the cash-strapped country of its resources.
Mahinda’s televised address to the people was aimed at soothing frayed tempers. “Every second you protest, we are losing dollars,” he said while addressing the people. Calling for patience and support from people, the PM said his government, led by his brother, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, was working to resolve the crisis “as much as possible” in the next few days.
Stating that the country is at a “decisive juncture now” Mahinda said he won’t sacrifice Sri Lanka’s sovereignty when taking help from friendly countries. In what could be called a major step to convince the people, Mahinda further said he will reinstate fertiliser subsidy for farmers. Sri Lanka’s farming community has been the most distressed after the government took a decision to go organic and ban chemical fertilisers, a year ago. A huge protest by farmers had broken out following the government's decision then.
Dragged down by huge debts, the country is witnessing long hours of power outage, and severe shortage of fuel and essentials. On Monday, one more person died while standing in queue for fuel— eighth in the past few weeks. The country is also running out of essential drugs and medical supplies. It had reached out to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and its new finance minister Ali Sabry is all set to hold negotiations with the IMF soon.
On Sunday Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who is facing the wrath of the people for his policies, called for a meeting with the 41 MPs of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, led by former president Maithripala Sirisena to form an interim government. The talks remained inconclusive.
Three members of the ruling alliance had suggested that an interim government may be formed as Gotabaya’s call for a unity government was not accepted by the opposition and alliance parties.
