<p>Sri Lanka's president, Maithripala Sirisena on Monday rejected the UNP's push towards a formation of another 'national government'.&nbsp;</p> <p>“I heard through the media that a Minister is talking about how to form a National Government and what its benefits are. What I see is the need to benefit themselves by obtaining Ministerial posts. My thought is that when we are accompanied by less people, we are able to do our duty to the nation."</p> <p>Sirisena said the proposed national government was simply an attempt to increase the number of Cabinet ministers and provide privileges to the ministers at the people’s expense.</p>

Sri Lankan soldiers continued with their militarisation of the North-East last week, with troops from the 661 Brigade carrying out roof repairs at a church in Poonakari.

A group of soldiers stationed in the region carried out the repair work at Pallai Church, having “received the blessings of Major General Ralph Nugera Commander Security Forces – Kilinochchi,” said an official military website.

Sri Lanka’s president called on the island to wage a war on drugs in a “similar manner” to the massive military offensive a decade ago that killed tens of thousands of Tamils and saw large scale violations of international law.

Tamils in Amparai protested demanding the Sri Lankan army release the buildings of a school which it has occupied since 1990.

Residents of Thirukkovil in Amparai demanded on Friday that the army withdraw from the Visvathulasi Vidyalayam and allow the compound to be used again for education and sport.

The school is currently forced to function in a temporary building on the same road as the army camp.

Residents of a Jaffna suburb protested after a suspect accused of abducting a local Tamil girl escaped while receiving treatment in hospital, purportedly under the watch of Sri Lankan police.

Locals took to the street on Friday to vent their anger at the police for allowing the suspect to escape through their negligence, and demanded the police take action to find and arrest him again.

Sri Lankan police have been collecting details of residents and business-people in Koppay, while refusing to disclose the reason.

Last Thursday, January 31, non-uniformed police officers visited homes and businesses in Koppay’s police division and told residents to fill out a form with details including names and national identity card (NIC) numbers of occupants.

When residents queried the reason for the surveillance, police officers refused to answer, stating only that it was an order from Colombo.

At places where occupants weren’t in, police left the forms with instructions to complete and return to the police station within a week.

Families of the disappeared in Vavuniya protest today, marking their 715th day of continous demonstration demanding answers for their disappeared loved ones. 

Sri Lanka’s president recited a poem declaring Sri Lanka ‘Sinhala land’ during a speech at a military parade in Colombo to mark Independence Day earlier today, stating that it was the “essence of our future vision”.

The Sri Lankan military held parades across the North-East as it marked Independence Day earlier today, in a show of might several years after the end of the armed conflict in the region.

The parades had troops march in formation at streets across various districts, in some cases waving Sri Lankan ‘lion’ flags.

Some of the parades also saw the participation of local Tamil schoolchildren.

See photographs from various districts below.

Tamils across the North-East held black flags today in protesting at the celebrations by the Sri Lankan state for independence day, arguing that the Tamil nation was not free and lacked even basic rights such as land rights. 

In Batticaloa, families of the disappeared protested by the Eastern University campus, rejecting the celebrations of independence, and calling for the government to provide answers for their disappeared loved ones.