Rajapaksa flew into Colombo’s Bandaranaike International Airport early Saturday from Bangkok via Singapore. After being welcomed by his party’s lawmakers, Rajapaksa left the airport in a motorcade heavily guarded by armed soldiers. The ousted leader, his wife and two bodyguards had left the country on July 13 on an air force plane bound for the Maldives, before traveling to Singapore, where he formally resigned. He flew to Thailand two weeks later. Sources close to the former president said he will move to an official residence in Colombo and have a beefed-up security team. Political analyst Dr Aruna Kulatunga said Rajapaksa would also be entitled to an official residence, which would pass to his wife after his death. Sanjeeva Edirimanna, MP and spokesperson for Rajapaksa’s Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) party said: “We did not plead to bring him back. He has every right to return. What we discussed was giving him special protection. President or not, he is entitled to security as a former defense minister.” For months, Sri Lanka has been in the grip of its worst economic crisis, which sparked extraordinary protests and unprecedented public outrage that eventually forced Rajapaksa and his brother, the former prime minister, to resign. Father Amila Jeewantha Peiris, a prominent figure in the grassroots movement that pushed for Rajapaksa’s resignation, described the former president’s return as “shameful”. “People will not object to his return to Sri Lanka. I don’t think there will be protests, but his return will certainly create more tension. He is one of the people responsible for the chaos in Sri Lanka,” he said. The situation in the bankrupt country has been exacerbated by global factors, including the Covid pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but many hold the once-powerful Rajapaksa family responsible for grossly mismanaging the economy and tipping it into crisis. The economic collapse has seen months of shortages of essential items such as fuel, medicine and cooking gas due to a severe shortage of foreign currency. Although cooking gas supplies have been restored through World Bank support, shortages of fuel, critical medicines and some food items continue. Unrest in Sri Lanka: how the week unfolded – video report The island nation has suspended repayment of nearly $7 billion of foreign debt due this year. The country’s total foreign debt stands at more than $51 billion, of which $28 billion must be repaid by 2027. On Tuesday, Rajapaksa’s successor, Ranil Wickremesinghe, reached a tentative deal with the International Monetary Fund on a $2.9 billion rescue package over four years to help the country recover. Rajapaksa, a former army officer, was elected on promises to boost the country’s economy and ensure national security after Islamic State-inspired bombings killed around 270 people in churches and hotels on Easter Sunday 2019. In April, protesters began camping outside the president’s office, demanding that Rajapaksa step down. The protests shattered the Rajapaksa family’s control of politics. Before Rajapaksa stepped down, his older brother stepped down as prime minister and three other close family members resigned from cabinet posts. But the new president, Wickremesinghe, has since cracked down on the protests. There is real fear among people who want to protest now, said Bhavani Fonseka, with the independent thinktank the Center for Policy Alternatives. “Whether people will take to the streets again to protest remains to be seen, especially since there has been so much repression since Ranil Wickremesinghe came to power. Several protesters have been arrested, so there is real fear,” he said. “What’s the point of it [Rajapaksa] return, returning? How can this help us? I would rather have him away than in the country,” said K Anulawathi, a mother of two from Madiwela whose family is struggling to make ends meet.
