President Rajapaksa on Friday invoked stringent laws to tackle growing unrest in an unprecedented economic crisis.
Sri Lankans suffering from lack of fuel, essential itemsCOLOMBO, April 2 - Sri Lanka's government imposed a weekend curfew on Saturday even as hundreds of lawyers urged President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to revoke a state of emergency to ensure that freedom of speech and peaceful assembly are respected under the country's economic crisis.
Bhavani Fonseka, a senior researcher at the nonprofit Colombo Centre for Policy Alternatives rights group said regulations defining the president's emergency powers have yet to be issued.The Indian Ocean island nation of 22 million people is grappling with rolling blackouts for up to 13 hours a day as the government scrambles to secure foreign exchange to pay for fuel imports.
Highlighting the severe shortage of foreign currency, a vessel carrying 5,500 metric tonnes of cooking gas had to leave Sri Lankan waters after Laugfs Gas"People are struggling with an acute shortage of cooking gas, but how can we help them when there are no dollars? We are stuck," Laugfs Gas Chairman W.H.K. Wegapitiya told Reuters.
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