Malé, Maldives – Former President and incumbent Speaker of the Maldives Parliament on Sunday condemned the burning of recently appointed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s home.
Nasheed also stood by the Prime Minister stating that Wickremesinghe, “who’s only been on the job a few weeks, is trying to steer SL out of its current mess” and called out the public for burning his house.
Burning [Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s] house down is hardly going to help.
Nasheed
Nasheed further stated that Sri Lanka needs a steady and experienced hand to steer her out of this political and economic crisis. Adding that he is confident that the people of SL will find the sensible way forward.
Earlier in May, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe appointed former Maldivian President Nasheed as liaison to coordinate relief efforts for Sri Lanka amid the country’s worst economic crisis in recent history. Nasheed also visited Sri Lanka in June 2022 at the behest of the Prime Minister.
Protestors seized the residences of the Prime Minister and President Gotabaya over the weekend in an attempt to call for resignation from the two leaders.
Sri Lankan police today arrested three people for setting Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s private residence on fire on Saturday, amid mass anti-government protests.
The incident came hours after Wickremesinghe offered to resign to make way for an all-party government. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has also offered to resign on July 13.
