Families of Tamil political prisoners hunger striking in Anuradhapura prison met with the Northern Province governor on Sunday.

Accompanied by the Northern Provincial Councillor, M. K. Sivajilingam, family members of the three detainees hunger striking in Anuradhapuram met with the governor to discuss their concerns about the detainees' health.

The three prisoners are hunger-striking in protest against the transferral of their cases from Vavuniya to Anuradhapura.

Widespread protests in solidarity with the prisoners have been taking place across the North.

Sri Lanka's president Maithripala Sirisena this weekend said he would introduced a special programme to relieve farmers in the North of debt, Adaderana reported. 

He made no mention of the military's ongoing occupation of Tamil lands and its business activities across the North-East, which Tamil farmers say is destroying their livelihoods. 

Mr Sirisena made these comments at the opening ceremonry of the Kilinochchi Economic Center. Details of the programme and its timeline remain unknown.. 

Sri Lankas' state minister of defence Ruwan Wijewardene rejected Tamils calls for the release of political prisoners stating that those detained were 'LTTE suspects'.

“A group of TNA MPs are attempting to collapse the peaceful live hood of Northerners by holding Harthal," Mr Wijewardene was quoted by Adaderana as saying. 

"These prisoners are not political prisoners as interpreted by the TNA. Investigations have revealed that they are a set of former LTTTE members engaged in a number of crimes during the period of war," he said. 

Sri Lanka's president Maithripala Sirisena urgeds Tamils protesting against his visit to Jaffna, not to protest against him as it would give the "devil" an opportunity. 

"If you stage protests against me and I am weakened, the devil will get an opportunity," he was quoted by Ceylon Today as saying. 

Mr Sirisena who was surrounded by armed officers, was confronted with protesters on Saturday as he visited Jaffna.

Sri Lankan police pushed back protesters who were holding black flags as a symbol of their anger and frustration at the government's failure to deliver on its commitments made to the Tamil people. 

India and Sri Lanka held talks on Saturday aimed at finding a permanent solution to the arrest of Tamil Nadu fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy. 

Both sides pledged to find a permanent solution to the arrests, the Times of India reported. 

India's minister of agriculture and farmers welfare, Radha Mohan Singh and Sri Lanka's fisheries minister Mahinda Amaraweera took part. 

"The Ministers agreed that a permanent solution to the fishermen issues should be found at the earliest," Sri Lanka's ministry of external affairs said in a statement.

Sri Lankan police officers clashed with Tamils protesting against the president's visit to Jaffna on Saturday. 

Protesters held black flags and photographs of their missing loved ones. Anger and frustration has been rising within Tamils in the North-East at the government's failure to deliver on its pledged commitments.

Today's protest follows a demonstration yesterday in Jaffna, which called for the release of Tamil political prisoners. 

Armed STF officers escorted the president as he made his way past the protest. He later stopped to speak to the protesters.

Sri Lanka has ranked 84^th out of 119 countries in the 2017 Global Hunger Index (GHI) released by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) this week, with child malnutrition increasing on the island.

Amidst concerns of increasing military involvement in civilian life across the North-East, the Sri Lankan military held a series of events across Jaffna this month to mark World Children’s Day this month.

Sri Lanka's armed Special Task Force officers were deployed to Jaffna on Friday, surrounding Tamils protesting outside the Northern governor's office against the ongoing detention of Tamil political prisoners. 

The UN Special Rapporteur for Truth, Justice and Reparations visited Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu on Thursday.