An attempted break-in at former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa's official residence, attacks on houses of lawmakers belonging to the ruling party, and still no concrete signals of a bailout from the IMF — the crisis in Sri Lanka has spiraled out of control.

The outgoing Prime Minister and his family had to be rescued by the military after thousands of protesters attempted to storm his official residence in Colombo last night. Reports suggest that Mahinda Rajapaksa and his family have been holed up at the Trincomalee Naval Base.

The Rajapaksas' ancestral home in Hambantota was set on fire yesterday — this, hours after the Prime Minister resigned from his post. A Sri Lankan member of parliament from the ruling party also died after he reportedly killed himself following a mob attack.

As per reports, eight people have been killed and over 200 injured in the clashes that erupted after alleged pro-government supporters attacked anti-government protesters at Galle Face. The violence prompted authorities to impose a nationwide curfew and deploy army troops in the capital.

Opposition leaders are demanding the arrest of Mahinda Rajapaksa, accusing him of inciting his supporters to attack anti-government protesters. SJB, the principal opposition party, has rejected President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's call for talks on forming an all-party interim government.

Amidst all this, CNBC-TV18 has learnt that there are complications emerging as far as talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on a possible bailout.

In an interview with CNBC-TV18 Ashok Kantha, former Ambassador to Sri Lanka, said it is extremely important to have an interim government in place as the country is passing through an unprecedented economic crisis.

“This is an extraordinarily complex and difficult situation which has emerged. However it is extremely important to have an interim government in place because some very difficult decisions have to be taken as the country is passing through an economic crisis, it has to conduct negotiations with IMF,” Kantha said.

India needs to continue supporting Sri Lanka with emergency supplies and economic help, Kantha added.

“India’s role essentially is to see that we remain the first responder in an emergency economic situation. Over the last few months India has provided economic assistance worth nearly $3.5 billion; it has rushed in fuel, food, medicines and other emergency supplies and that role needs to continue while Sri Lanka moves towards a medium to long term solution to its economic predicament.”

Bhavani Fonseka, a human rights lawyer, said people want a system change and that change won’t happen as long as the President remains in office.

“The protest over the last few weeks have been calling for the resignation of both the President and the Prime Minister. What we saw yesterday was only Prime Minister resigning. The protestors clear message is they won’t go home till the President also resigns. People want a system change and that change won’t happen till the President remains in office,” Fonseka said, adding that there needs to be a clear transition plan for elections at all levels including that of President.

“The President needs to resign after appointing a Prime Minister and then the parliament elects the next President. There also needs to be a clear plan in place for elections to take place, so that people can decide who their elected representatives are going to be. These steps need to be taken quickly to ensure that there is a government in place,” Fonseka said.

Easwaran Rutnam, Managing Editor of Colombo Gazette, said protests are likely to escalate while the President remains in office.

“It does seem like the protests will escalate as long as President remains in office. People also want the Rajapaksa family to be held accountable for a number of incidents that have taken place in the past as well as yesterday’s incident,” Rutnam said.

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First Published:May 10, 2022 9:30 PM IST