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.

Sri Lankan Defence Secretary and alleged war criminal, Kamal Gunaratne, pledged to Buddhist monks in Amparai that he would protect archaeological sites through the establishment of a naval sub-unit in Muhudu Maha Viharaya and enact harsh punishments for "vandalism".

The following pieces are by Yhalisai and Kulalisai, both escaped the war in the Vanni in 2009 and now live in the diaspora. 

18th of May 

Our hopes and dreams, they did betray.
For all their cruelty, they must pay. 
For our freedom, it's a long delay.
We didn't want war, but there was no other way. 

Some people think Sri Lanka's a display, 
A "beautiful" island for their holiday.
But they only see what the government portrays,
Not the truth that's hidden away. 

I had the greatest honour to design Quebec’s Tamil Heritage Month stamp for 2020.

Designing is something I love to do and I am so grateful that it is a huge part of my life. As someone who is Tamil, when I was asked to design a stamp that represented my culture and heritage, I did not think twice.