Special Air Service (SAS) veteran Brian Baty who “served on covert operations across the crumbling British empire from the 1950s, then sold his counter-insurgency experience to the Sri Lankan government, profiting from massacres of Tamil civilians” died without facing justice from war crimes, Phil Miller writes for the Daily Maverick.

After serving in the SAS, Baty joined Keenie Meenie Services (KMS), a British private mercenary company, which recruited military veterans equipped with combat experience from various conflict situations.

“Sri Lanka’s ruling Sinhalese majority urgently needed military support from KMS to suppress an armed separatist movement among its marginalised Tamil minority. Thatcher’s government had refused to intervene directly, fearing it might sour UK trade deals with India, which initially supported the Tamils,” Miller wrote.

Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister, Mahinda Rajapaksa, warns against division in response to the coronavirus pandemic stating that Sri Lankan’s have only one option to “pull together or perish”.

This stark warning has raised concerns from civil society actors as military surveillance, intimidation and harassment of dissent voices ramps up.

Sri Lanka’s former finance minister and senior United National Party (UNP) leader Ravi Karunayake said his party had now been cleansed of those who had been “speaking against Buddhism… and standing up only for the minorities” in a press conference this morning.

Sri Lankan President, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, and Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, held a telephone meeting today, with the Sri Lankan premier requesting economic support from New Delhi as the island's economy faces a massive crisis.

“If the Government of India could provide USD 1.1 billion special SWAP facility to top up USD 400 million under SAARC Facility it would enormously help Sri Lanka in dealing with our foreign exchange issues,” Rajapaksa requested, according to an official Sri Lankan press release.

Despite apparent restrictions put into place for coronavirus prevention, the Sri Lankan military held a series of public events across the Tamil homeland last week, as it marked the Buddhist festival of Vesak.

The events come as militarisation of the North-East stepped up under Sri Lanka’s current president Gotabaya Rajapaksa. In some areas, public events were held with the military handing out rations to Tamil civilians. In other areas Sinhala Buddhist monks oversaw religious ceremonies for troops.

The Lanka Indian Oil Company (LIOC) has reverted oil prices of Octane 92 petrol following calls by Sri Lankan MPs to boycott the company and buy from the government-owned CPC sheds.

This follows moves earlier this week to increase the price of Octane 92 petrol by Rs. 5, thus selling a litre of Octane 92 for 142 litres as opposed to Rs 137.

The decision to raise the price of oil was widely panned by the government with Sri Lankan MP, Dilan Perera, calling for a boycott of LIOC fuel and for people to purchase from the government-owned CPC sheds.

The home of a Tamil lawyer, who successfully challenged a Jaffna court isolation order against members of the Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF), has been attacked by unknown persons on Friday night.

Roy Dilaksan had appeared on behalf of the party as they successfully reversed a ruling that said TNPF members must isolate and could not hold a memorial event for Tamil Genocide Day.

Three youths travelling on a three-wheeler vehicle were assaulted by army officials and then arrested for "attempting to attack the army officials" and face prosecution for 'obstruction of duty'.

The incident occurred yesterday afternoon in the Urumpirai area in Jaffna.

The army soldiers who were carrying out routine inspections of those travelling in the Urumpirai area, pulled over the youths in the three-wheeler.

Sri Lankan President, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, met with the Buddhist Maha Sanga to discuss his task force, which is led by Defence Secretary, Kamal Gunaratne, and aims to protect archaeological sites in the East.

The head of Sri Lanka’s army, who is currently barred from travel to the US over his role in overseeing war crimes, met with a Sinhala Buddhist monk who has repeatedly spread hate speech and was caught on camera assaulting a Christian man, as he visited the Eastern Province last week.