Sri Lanka’s Terrorism Investigation Department has reissued a summons to a Mannar civil society leader.

V. S. Sivakaran, who heads the Federation of Community Organisations in Mannar was served a summons at the end of last month to appear for questioning in Colombo in relation to a letter he had sent to the Sri Lankan president criticising the president’s plans to attend the opening of an illegally constructed vihara in the environs of Thiruketheeswaram Kovil.

In the letter Mr Sivakaran had warned that if the President chose to ignore local concerns and attend the opening, Mannar locals would protest his visit.

A Swiss Tamil was arrested at Colombo airport on Sunday night.

34-year-old Devan Kamaleesan fled Sri Lanka with his parents as a 7-year-old child and sought asylum in Switzerland.

He was arrested by CID at Banadaranaike International Airport on his arrival which is the first time he has returned since fleeing the country, 27 years ago.

The Sri Lankan President is to meet the families of the three hunger-striking political prisoners in Anuradhapura prison, alongside students from Jaffna University who have been campaigning on their behalf.

The Student Union of the University of Jaffna wrote to President Sirisena, warning that failure to address the demands of the political prisoners would lead to further protests and unrest among the Tamil people.

The Pivithuru Hela Urumaya (PHU) rejected Tamil calls for the release of political prisoners stating that there were no 'political prisoners' in Sri Lanka, describing them instead as 'LTTE members. 

Criticising the TNA's call for the release of Tamil political prisoners, the PHU leader MP Udaya Gammanpila was quoted by the Daily Mirror as saying, "there is no other group in the world which is more duplicitous than the TNA."

"It is with great responsibility we say that there are no ‘political prisoners’ in the country as claimed by them,” he said. 

Sri Lanka's former president, Mahinda Rajapaksa urged the government not to bring in what he described as the "destructive" proposal for a new constitution. 

"The vast majority of Tamil and Muslim people lived outside the Northern and Eastern Provinces and therefore the carving out of federal units based on ethnicity or religion and the conferring of sweeping powers on such units should never take place in this country," he was quoted by the Daily Mirror as saying. 

A Tamil woman that has been searching for her disappeared family members died from a heart-attack on Saturday.

55-year-old Jesintha Peiris is the seventh protester to die since families of the disappeared began protesting, eight months ago.

She was searching for her son Rosanly Leon and husband Amalan Leon, all from Mannar, who were abducted by white van in Colombo in 2008.

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.