Families of the disappeared marked 800 days of protest in Vavuniya on Monday with prayers at the town’s Church of St Anthony.

Sri Lanka’s former president Chandrika Kumaratunga has called for a ban on madrasas, or Islamic schools, on the island, claiming that they teach “extremism” to children.

Speaking at an all party-all faith conference held at Sri Lanka’s parliament last week, Kumaratunga said she was concerned as she had “been told that some Muslim children who were studying at Ladies College have left that school and had joined a Madarasa school”.

She went on to state,

“Madarasa schools have been existing in Sri Lanka for the last ten years. Children are taught extremism in these schools. I informed about these to the present regime as well but no action was taken.”

An event held to mark the death anniversary of S J V Chelvanayakam was held in Jaffna last week, where victims of the Easter Sunday attacks were also commemorated.

TNA parliamentarians were amongst the crowd gathered in front of the Chelvanayakam statue in Jaffna to remember the politician, fondly referred to as 'Thanthai Chelva'. Chelvanayakam is known as the father of Tamil nationalism, and was responsible for spear heading the Vaddukoddai resolution, which was overwhelmingly ratified by the Tamil votes in the 1976 parliamentary elections.

Kirija Pirishanth's son cried out "amma! (mother)" as her body was laid to rest yesterday

In the wake of the Easter Sunday blasts by Islamist extremist groups, the Sri Lankan military summoned over 50 former LTTE cadres in Jaffna and ordered them to provide intelligence. 

The Mullaitivu court postponed the case against the Tamil Guardian correspondent, Shanmugam Thavaseelan, until September 10. 

New Zealand’s foreign minister has slammed the Sri Lankan government’s early attempts to paint the Easter Sunday terror attacks in Colombo and Batticaloa as reprisals for the massacre of 50 Muslims by a white supremacist in Auckland earlier this year.

“It’s a slightly cheap shot, I suppose, to try to explain it away. Let’s see the evidence,” foreign minister Winston Peters told Sky News.

More vigils have been held by Tamils across the island for the victims of the Easter Sunday attacks in Batticaloa and Colombo.

The former UN Special Rapporteur for counter terrorism, Ben Emmerson, slammed the Sri Lankan government's counter-terrorism strategy in the wake of the Easter Sunday bombings. 

Sri Lankan police said ammunition was found at a raid on Dawood Restaurant in Kanakarayankulam, Vavuniya yesterday.