Germany’s head of state has postponed a planned trip to Sri Lanka after recent anti-Muslim violence led to the declaration of a state of emergency on the island.

The Federal President, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, had planned to travel to India and Sri Lanka from the 21st - 28th March.

Sources in Berlin say the Sri Lanka leg of the trip, which was initially planned after accepting an invitation from the Sri Lankan president, Maithripala Sirisena, has been cancelled due to the recent unrest caused by anti-Muslim violence in Kandy and other parts of the island.

The Sri Lankan president held discussions with the Indian prime minister, Narenda Modi this weekend, during a visit to India. 

Discussions included enhancing cooperation between the two countries, Indian media outlets reported. 

Mr Sirisena's official visit was to participate at the International Solar Alliance (ISA) conference. 

Sri Lanka's media minister and former foreign minister, Mangala Samaraweera defended the Sri Lankan president's decision to block access to social media, describing it as "appropriate and vital". 

Speaking to Sri Lankan Mirror, Mr Samaraweera was quoted as saying that "although he does not personally endorse censorship of social media, at this decisive moment, the decision taken by the president to temporarily block social media sites was an appropriate and vital decision." 

The Sri Lankan government continued to block access to Facebook, Whats App and Viber despite the lifting of the curfew in villages affected by the anti Muslim violence. 

Social media websites were blocked by the government on March 7 following attacks against Muslims carried out by Sinhala Buddhist mobs. 

The Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL) said the decision to continue the suspension was made at the request of the Ministry of Defence. 

Sri Lanka's Chief of Defence Staff, Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne this week condemned Sinhala people responsible for attacking Muslims in Kandy, saying they were traitors for attacking the Muslim community who helped the military in the fight against the LTTE. 

Praising the Muslim community for providing intelligence to the Sri Lankan military, Admiral Wijegunaratne said, "we are living today thanks to them, because as you all know our intelligence during our conflict time was entirely run by our Muslim community."

A former Tamil political prisoner was arrested at Colombo’s international airport on Friday, for the second time since his release in 2016.

Murugaiah Komakan, a former member of the Jaffna Municipal Council who was detained for six years under the Prevention of Terrorism Act was arrested while on his way out to India. He was detained for several hours and released after being told to appear at the Terrorism Investigation Department’s notorious ‘4th floor’ headquarters tomorrow (Sunday).

Sri Lanka's state minister, Harsha De Silva on Friday urged the government to investigate what he described as 'communal clashes', calling for 'Muslim extremism' to be investigated too. 

"We need to expose the extremist groups behind these series of communal clashes. Muslim extremism should also be investigated," Mr Silva told parliament, calling for a presidential commission to be set up. 

Speaking after a meeting with the visiting UN Under Secretary General, Jeffrey Feltman, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) spokesperson, M A Sumanthiran said that he had highlighted the UN's continued support for Sri Lankan implementing the UNHRC 2015 resolution, and had urged the government to fulfil its election mandate. 

Muslims in Mannar held a hartal on Friday, closing businesses and shops to demonstrate their support for Muslims in Kandy facing attacks by Sinhala Buddhist mobs. 

Muslim shops, homes and mosques in villages by Kandy were attacked earlier this week, leading to the government calling a state of emergency and imposing restrictions on social media use and internet access. 

Reports of attacks against Muslims continue despite the state of emergency however. 

The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) on Thursday called on the Sri Lankan government to act switfly to ensure those responsible for anti-Muslim violence in Kandy are prosecuted. 

"The Sri Lankan government must act swiftly and in line with human rights to prosecute those responsible for recent communal violence."

"Particularly for attacks against the minority Muslim community in Kandy district, while avoiding the abusive practices of the past," said the ICJ in a statement.