Bangkok, Former Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has sought permission to enter Thailand. Gotbaya is currently in Singapore. He reached Singapore on July 14 via Maldives.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa was forced to flee the country due to unprecedented unrest caused by Sri Lanka’s worst economic crisis in seven decades and an attack on the Rashtrapati Bhawan by thousands of demonstrators. After reaching Singapore, Gotbaya sent his resignation from the post of President to the Speaker of the Parliament through an email. He is the first President in the history of Sri Lanka to resign without completing his term.
Sources familiar with the Thai Foreign Ministry said that Rajapaksa is expected to leave Singapore and reach the Thai capital, Bangkok. Sri Lanka’s foreign ministry did not respond to questions about Gotbaya’s trip to Bangkok. Thai Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Thani Sangarat said Rajapakse has a diplomatic passport, which allows him to enter the country for 90 days.
He did not say when Rajapaksa intends to travel. Sangarat said the former Sri Lankan president’s entry into Thailand was for a temporary visit.
He said that we have informed the Sri Lankan side that former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has no intention of seeking political asylum in Thailand and will later travel to another country. After leaving Sri Lanka, Rajapaksa has never been seen in public, nor has he made any statements.
The Singaporean government said this month that Gotabaya Rajapakse was not granted any privileges or concessions in his country.
Gotbaya, 73, served as an officer in the army for a long time before becoming president. He has served as the Defense Minister of Sri Lanka. In the meantime, he allowed the Sri Lankan army to fight the LTTE.
Then in 2009, the Sri Lankan army killed LTTE chief Prabhakaran from terrorism in my country. Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan army was widely accused of human rights abuses and serious allegations of war crimes. But Rajapaksa has always denied these allegations.HS1Ms