After fleeing the nation in July, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the deposed president of Sri Lanka, arrived back home in the early hours of Saturday, according to a top security officer.
According to UK-based media, the former president left the nation as the economic crisis stoked violent riots. After demonstrators enraged by a crippling economic situation attacked his office and home, Rajapaksa announced his resignation. Following widespread protests demanding his resignation on July 9, the former president left the country.
After violent protests broke out in Colombo and protesters enraged by the nation’s economic difficulties attacked his official apartment and office, Rajapaksa left Sri Lanka in the early hours of July 13.
After arriving in Singapore, where he was given a 14-day travel card, he announced his resignation as president.
He spent the previous few weeks in Thailand after making his way to Singapore via the Maldives. Nearly two months after running away to Thailand, he returns.
The former president arrived in Thailand on August 11 in response to a request from the Sri Lankan administration. His Mirihana home has been given strict protection. However, Thailand has refuted claims that the former president of Sri Lanka has applied for refuge there.
Rajapaksa asked to visit Thailand, according to the Thai Foreign Ministry, but he had no plans to apply for political asylum.
As per media reports, Rajapaksa landed in Sri Lanka via a Singapore Airlines aircraft.
As a consequence of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna’s (SLPP) request, President Ranil Wickremesinghe reportedly phoned Rajapaksa to discuss plans for his return to the nation, according to a source close to him who was quoted by the Daily Mirror.
Earlier, Gotabaya’s relative and former Sri Lankan ambassador to Russia, Udayanga Weeratunga, suggested that Rajapaksa will return on August 24.
