Only President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his elder brother, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, will continue in their posts, said education minister Dinesh Gunawardena.
Crisis-hit Sri Lanka’s cabinet resigned en masse from their positions at a late-night meeting Sunday, the education minister said, as anti-government protests escalated despite curfews.
Also Read | Lanka protesters defy curfew after web ban
All 26 ministers aside from President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his elder brother Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa stepped down, education minister Dinesh Gunawardena told reporters.
“All the ministers submitted their letters of resignation so that the president can constitute a new cabinet,” Gunawardena said, adding that the decision was taken after discussing the worsening economic crisis.
Three other members of the powerful Rajapaksa family were among those who quit amid mounting public anger against the acute shortages of food, fuel and medicines plaguing the South Asian nation of 22 million.
The youngest Rajapaksa brother, finance minister Basil, and their eldest, Chamal, who held the agricultural portfolio, and the family’s scion Namal, the sports minister, all resigned.
The move came after thousands of people defied a weekend curfew Sunday to protest across the island demanding the ouster of the Rajapaksa family, which returned to power in November 2019.
Less time to read?
Try Quickreads
-
Lanka protesters defy curfew after web ban
Opposition lawmakers and thousands of people angered by the government’s handling of Sri Lanka’s worst economic crisis on Sunday marched to denounce the President’s move to impose a nationwide curfew and state of emergency, as protests over food and fuel shortages swelled. Apparently due to growing criticism, access to social media was later restored. Sri Lanka is under a nationwide curfew until Monday morning after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa assumed emergency powers at midnight Friday.
-
All eyes on Pak’s apex court after Imran’s bouncer
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan was widely expected to lose a no-confidence vote on Sunday as the combined opposition parties had mustered the support of nearly 200 lawmakers – more than the 172 needed in the 342-member House to oust the premier — before the move was cancelled in the National Assembly.
-
Imran throws Pak into chaos with contentious call for polls
New Delhi Pakistan was plunged into a constitutional crisis on Sunday as Prime Minister Imran Khan called early elections after the deputy speaker of parliament blocked a no-confidence motion against him on the grounds that it was unconstitutional. The opposition appeared to have more than the 172 votes in the 342-member House to unseat Khan.
-
-
Sri Lanka: Thousands defy curfew amid unrest, govt rebuts PM quitting report
Thousands of citizens and Opposition lawmakers took to the streets of Sri Lanka capital Colombo on Sunday defying a nationwide curfew to protest against the severe shortage of food and fuel in the island nation. A Bloomberg report quoted information department director-general Mohan Samaranayake as saying, “The rumors to the effect that the prime minister is going to resign have no basis to it.”
