Embattled and on-the-run Sri Lanka president Gotabaya Rajapaksa landed in Singapore Thursday evening after having fled from the crisis-hit island nation to Maldives two days before. Rajapaksa, his wife Ioma, and two bodyguards were on board Saudia Airlines flight SV 788 from Male that left at 11.30 am local time (noon IST), news agency AFP reported.
The flight landed at Singapore's Changi Airport at 7.17 pm local time (4.47 pm IST). Sri Lankan security sources say the president - who missed the Wednesday deadline to resign his post, leaving Sri Lanka facing further uncertainty - is expected to stay in Singapore for some time.
He might later move to the United Arab Emirates, sources said.
A Singapore foreign ministry statement, meanwhile, has ruled out talk of asylum for Gotabaya Rajapaksa. The ministry said the Lankan president had entered the city-state for a private visit. "He has not asked for asylum and neither has he been granted any asylum. Singapore generally does not grant requests for asylum,” the ministry stressed.
While leaving the Maldives Rajapaksa faced protests from Sri Lankans living there, who demanded the Maldivian government not safeguard 'criminals'. The country's main opposition, the Progressive Party of Maldives, also objected to free passage for Rajapaksa.
"We are betraying our friends in Sri Lanka by accepting Rajapaksa, a hated figure in that country," a PPM leader told AFP on Wednesday.
Rajapaksa fled Sri Lanka late Tuesday, as ongoing protests against his government's handling of the severe economic crisis intensified. Thousands of protesters overran his official residence in Colombo on the weekend and later also forcibly occupied the home of prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe - an ominous signal of their fury and discontent.
The president told the speaker of Sri Lanka's parliament he would stand down by Wednesday night, paving the way for a new leader, but has not so far, and has been seen as clinging on to power by appointing Wickremesinghe - a close ally of the Rajapaksa clan - acting president.
That decision triggered more protests in Sri Lanka; protesters had demanded that both Rajapaksa and Wickremesinghe - a six-time former PM who, they hoped, would lead the country out of this mess - stand down.
(With inputs from agencies)