A hartal has taken place this morning in Jaffna, with shops and businesses across the town shut in protest against the killing of two Tamil university students by Sri Lankan police.

The hartal, which is backed by political parties including the TNA, was announced after the murder of Sulaxan and Kajan. The funeral of the two students took place this weekend, with demonstrations across the North-East.

Indian Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar met with Sri Lanka’s president on Monday, after arriving on Saturday for a three-day visit with a business delegation.

Foreign Secretary Jaishankar held discussions with President Sirisena on the implementation of various initiatives and economic cooperation projects reports Colombo Page.

The visit was aimed at exploring the potential to promote the Indian business in Sri Lanka and investment opportunities.

Demonstrations against the police shootings of two Jaffna University Students took place in Colombo.

Expressing solidarity with those protesting across the North-east, demonstrators in Colombo asked if police bullets where only reserved for Tamils.

Students across the Tamil homeland held demonstrations on Monday, protesting against the deaths of Jaffna University students Nadarasa Kajan and Pavunraj Sulaxan and calling for justice.

The funeral of murdered Jaffna University student Nadarasa Kajan was held in Kilinochchi on Sunday.

The Tamil Students Initiative in the United Kingdom has called for an “impartial inquiry” into the murder of two students from Jaffna University last and echoed the call for justice and accountability for the killings.

In a statement released on Sunday, the British student organisation said the incident was “yet another reminder of the chilling effects of intense militarisation in the North-East”.

“Their deaths are yet another tragedy that will reverberate with the Tamil community - especially students - across the globe,” the statement continued. “We cannot lose more young lives to state violence.”

Two Sri Lankan police officers were injured in a sword attack in Chunnakam on Sunday.

The attack was reportedly gang-related and caused a high security presence, including special forces, around several areas of Jaffna.

The injured officers, identified as Nimal Bandara and P. S. Navaratna, were attacked while responding to reports of violent and disorderly youths attacking businesses in Chunnakam town.

An event was held in Denmark earlier this month to remember the sacrifice of Lt. Maalathy , Lt. Col. Kumarappa, Lt. Col. Pulendran and other LTTE cadres who lost their lives during the Tamil struggle.

Sri Lankan president Maithripala Sirisena insisted that the position of Buddhism on the island would not be changed in any new constitution that is to be implemented. 

The Hindu reported Mr Sirisena as telling a Buddhist gathering in Trincomalee on Friday that “Buddhism’s position, coming since 1972, will not be changed”.

Negotiations around a proposed new constitution have been kept secret by both the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil National Alliance, with TNA parliamentarian M A Sumanthiran telling a gathering in Jaffna this month that there were "reasons for the silence we keep".