MOHAMMED RASOOLDEEN
COLOMBO : Former foreign minister and Maldivian National Party leader Dunya Maumoon said on Thursday,July 14 that she was thoroughly dismayed and disappointed to hear that her government had given temporary shelter to the fleeing Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa during his transit in Male.
She lamented that the Maldivian government did not care about the sentiments of the Sri Lankan people.
She said she is glad that her MNP is to take up this matter in the parliament next week.” The Maldivian government’s decision to allow Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to travel to the country was highly unacceptable and said it will move a motion, seeking the explanation from the Solih administration.
Rajapaksa, the 73-year-old leader who enjoys immunity from prosecution while he is president, fled to the Maldives along with his wife and two security officials to avoid the possibility of arrest by the new government.
Asserting that Rajapaksa also has “quite a bit of responsibility” for the current economic crisis in Sri Lanka, Maumoon said there is a good number of Sri Lankans in the Maldives who feel aggrieved over the Solih government’s action.” They expressed their concerns on demonstration on the streets in the Male, she added.
Dunya, daughter of former Maldives president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. said the Sri Lankan leader was staying in a resort in the Maldives.
Rajapaksa’s escape from the country to the Maldives was negotiated by the Maldivian Parliament Speaker and former president Mohamed Nasheed, sources said.
“ Rulers are accountable and they should be taken to task if they engage themselves in corrupt practices ”
The Maldivian government’s argument is that Rajapaksa is still the President of Sri Lanka, and that he hasn’t resigned or handed over his powers to a successor.
