Sri Lankan Nidahas Sewaka Sangamaya (SLNSS) of Sri Lankan Airlines on Tuesday announced the withdrawal of the services at the Silk Route Lounge of the Sri Lankan airport. According to the Daily Mirror, the trade union made the choice to stop the accountable authorities who are a part of the continuing problem from departing the nation. With effect from Tuesday afternoon, SLNSS decided to stop performing their responsibilities and refrain from handling passengers on the Silk Route/CIP.
Earlier in the day, The Sri Lanka Immigration and Emigration Officers’ Association (SLIEOA) also announced withdrawal from functioning at the Silk Route Passenger Clearance Terminal at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) with effect from morning until further notice. Accordingly, the operations at the Silk Route Passenger Clearance Terminal were stopped at 12.00 midnight on Tuesday. SLIEOA President K.A.A.S. Kanugala said, “The decision was made considering the current unstable and crisis situation in the country and the strong possibility of a large number of accused former political VIPs using this Silk Route Clearance Terminal to leave the country.”
“The VIPs can arrange their flight facilities by paying money at the BIA through the Silk Route,” he added. This comes after Sri Lanka’s former finance minister Basil Rajapaksa, who is the youngest brother of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, was stopped from boarding a flight to Dubai on Monday evening. Basil reportedly attempted to leave Sri Lanka amid the ongoing economic crisis in the country but airport immigration officials refused to let him leave the country following the protests by passengers, Daily Mirror reported.