Tuesday saw the announcement by Sri Lankan Nidahas Sewaka Sangamaya (SLNSS) of SriLankan Airlines that the Silk Route Lounge services will be discontinued.
According to the Daily Mirror, the trade union made the choice to stop the accountable authorities who are a part of the continuing problem from leaving the nation. With effect from today at noon, SLNSS agreed to stop performing their responsibilities and to refrain from handling passengers on the Silk Route/CIP.
The Bandaranaike International Airport’s (BIA) Silk Route Passenger Clearance Terminal will no longer be operated by the Sri Lanka Immigration and Emigration Officers’ Association (SLIEOA) as of this morning till further notice.
As a result, at 12 o’clock in the morning today, activities at the Silk Route Passenger Clearance Terminal were suspended.
SLIEOA President K.A.A.S. Kanugala said, “The decision was made considering the current unstable and crisis situation in the country and the strong possibility of a large number of accused former political VIPs using this Silk Route Clearance Terminal to leave the country.”
“The VIPs can arrange their flight facilities by paying money at the BIA through the Silk Route,” he added.
This comes after a motion was filed in the Sri Lankan Supreme Court seeking an interim order restraining the country’s former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, former Minister Basil Rajapaksa and two others from leaving the country without the prior approval of the Supreme Court.
According to a Fundamental Rights petition submitted by Sri Lankan swimmer and coach Julian Bolling, former Chairman of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce Chandra Jayaratne, Transparency International, and Jehan Canaga Retna, the motion was also filed against former Central Bank Governors Ajith Nivard Cabraal, W.D. Lakshman, and former Secretary to the Ministry of Finance S.R. Atygalle. Through Attorney-at-Law Upendra Gunasekera, the petitioners asked the Supreme Court to issue a directive authorising legal action against persons in charge of financial irregularities and poor economic management in Sri Lanka.
Given the extreme urgency of the situation, the petitioners asked that it be scheduled for July 14. The Supreme Court set the date of July 27 for consideration of this petition on July 6th.
According to the petitioners, they have reliable information that some of the aforementioned respondents may leave the country in order to withhold information requested by the petitioners and so obstruct the appropriate inquiry, according to the Daily Mirror.
As a result, the Supreme Court will hear the plea on Thursday in favour of the temporary relief Court.
