(Photos: Uthayan)

Tamil protestors in towns in the North-East have demanded the return of relatives from state custody.

A demonstration in Vavuniya, organised by the Vavuniya Citizens Group and a civil society organisation from across the North-East called Naangal, was attended by parents, children and other relatives of people who were disappeared, who surrendered to the army during 2009 and other political detainees.

The US Assistant Secretary of State Nisha Biswal, who arrived in Sri Lanka on Monday for a three day visit of the island, said that a lot of hard work and some difficult challenges remained.

Speaking to reporters after a meeting with Sri Lanka's foreign minister, Mangala Samaraweera, Ms Biswal said:

"President Sirisena and Prime Minister Wickremasinghe have put forth an ambitious agenda for their first one hundred days and much has already been accomplished in such a short time. But we recognise that there is a lot of hard work ahead and some difficult challenges."

A Tamil asylum seeker's transfer, ahead of his deportation, was postponed, after passengers on his plane protested by refusing to sit down and fasten their seat belts.

25-year old Puvaneethan was due to be transferred from Melbourne to Darwin, where he would have been prepared for deportation.

"After boarding QF838 in Melbourne, a number of passengers became disruptive. The passengers refused to follow cabin crew instruction so were offloaded and met by the AFP," a Qantas spokesperson said.

"The issue has since been resolved with the flight departing approximately 50 minutes later."

Mr Puvaneethan, who fears torture if he was returned to Sri Lanka, expressed gratitude to the protestors.

“I’m back in the room and I’m fine. I want to say thank-you to all the people who helped
me,” Mr Puvaneethan told the Tamil Refugee Council (TRC).