Sri Lankan authorities have lifted a nationwide curfew for an important Buddhist festival, but celebrations are muted as the nation's new premier looks to find his footing amid a worsening economic crisis.
Sunday marks Vesak, the most important religious event on Sri Lanka's calendar, which celebrates Buddha's birth, enlightenment and death.
The government of the Buddhist-majority nation has declared a two-day holiday, and announced it was lifting the curfew for the day without saying when or whether it would be reimposed.
The curfew was imposed on May 9 after deadly clashes that forced Mahinda Rajapaksa to resign as premier, leaving his brother, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, to rule on as president.
The ongoing crisis prompted the government to cancel its plans to celebrate Vesak, which had been scheduled at a temple in the island's south.
But a Buddhist Affairs ministry official told AFP news agency that people were free to hold their own celebrations, including the mass meditation and Buddhist sermons traditionally organised during the festival.
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Crisis continues
Shortages of food, fuel and medicines, along with record inflation and lengthy blackouts, have brought severe hardships to the country's 22 million residents.
Last week's clashes, and reprisals against government figures, left nine dead and more than 300 injured. Police have arrested about 230 people in connection with the violence.
Newly appointed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, 73, is facing obstacles to forming a unity government ahead of Tuesday's parliamentary session, the first since he took office.
Opposition leader Sajith Premadasa has already formally rejected an overture to join the new administration. But he added that his party would not block legitimate "solutions to the economic problems" in parliament.
Wickremesinghe, who has previously led the country five times, held discussions with the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, his office said in a statement on Sunday.
"The discussions with the organisations focused on assistance for the issues facing the supply of medicine, food and fertiliser," the statement said.
Wickremesinghe made his first cabinet appointments on Saturday. All four of them were from the Rajapaksas' Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP).
As the only lawmaker from his United National Party in the country's parliament, Wickremesinghe is reliant on support from the SLPP to form a government.
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