Sri Lankan PM Mahinda Rajapaksa calls for patience, says government working to overcome economic crisis

The anti-government protests in Sri Lanka, which started on Saturday, continued to its third day on Monday

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa on Monday assured the people suffering from the unprecedented economic difficulties that his government is working round-the-clock to address their woes and appealed to protesters to end their agitation and have patience, saying every minute spent on streets deprives the cash-strapped country of precious dollars.

“We understand the people’s sufferings. We have to strengthen the economy. We will take the responsibility to resolve the economic issue in the same way we ended the 30-year war,” Mr. Mahinda said, referring to his military victory over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Amidst a growing pressure on him to quit following the unprecedented economic crisis facing the island nation, the embattled leader addressed the nation in a bid to calm the agitating people who are protesting on the streets over lengthy power outages and shortage of gas, food and other essentials.

“The government is working round-the-clock to overcome the economic crisis,” Mr. Mahinda, the elder brother of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, said.

In his first public appearance since countrywide protests began demanding the resignation of his younger brother President Gotabaya and the entire Rakapaksa family, he appealed to the protesters to end their anti-government agitation and said that every minute spent on streets deprives the country of dollar inflow.

“The government is spending every second of the day to resolve this problem. My family is being slandered, we can tolerate it,” Mr. Mahinda said.

He said the protesters were demanding to send home the entire 225 parliamentarians.