Mahinda Rajapaksa Sworn In As Sri Lanka PM

Sri Lanka’s newly elected President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s brother Mahinda Rajapaksa was on Thursday sworn in as the new prime minister of the island nation.

This is the first time in the history of Sri Lanka that two siblings are in the positions of president and the prime minister.

Mahinda Rajapaksa has served as president from 2005 to 2015. His accession to power has come after Ranil Wickremesinghe announced his resignation from the prime ministerial post, paving a way for a caretaker cabinet until the general elections which can be held in March 2020.

Wickremesinghe took the decision after a special cabinet meeting on Wednesday a day after he met Gotabaya and discussed the matter.

Leaders of the parties that backed Gotabaya during the presidential polls will be given preference in the Cabinet.

The Rajapaksa brothers are credited with crushing the Tamil Tigers a decade ago to end Sri Lanka’s civil war, with the security services they controlled accused of war crimes and multiple human rights abuses.

(ANI)