A protest was held against the Sri Lankan Navy in Oluvil, Amparai on Thursday, reported Virakesari.

Protestors called for the arrest of a member of the navy, who is said to have broken into a household and threatened women, after which he was captured by civilians.

Police arrested two students on Friday, accusing them over being involved over posters that went up near Jaffna Hindu College, reading 'Tamil Eelam will blossom', reports Uthayan.

Manmatharasa Venuganthan, 24 year old man from Inuvil was arrested a day after, 24 year old Jeyathasan Kajanan was detained.

The posters were removed, said police during a weekly press briefing.

The arrests come amidst a series of widespread arrests made by the police and anti-terror officers over recent weeks citing 'LTTE' links and activity.

The recent attack on Tamil journalist Sivagnanam Selvatheepan has been condemned by Reporters Without Borders in a statement on its website.

“Reporters Without Borders joins its partner organization, Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka (JDS), in condemning an attack on Sivagnanam Selvatheepan, a journalist who freelances for Tamil media, near the northern city of Jaffna on the night of 14 April.” RSF said.

A spokesperson for the Sri Lankan Army has told media that reconciliation cannot take place overnight, in response to a question by a journalist regarding US Assistant Secretary of State Nisha Biswal’s statement earlier this week.

“Reconciliation is a political matter. We have created an environment for reconciliation to take place. Reconciliation cannot take place overnight. Of around 12,000 terrorists who were in rehabilitation only about 60 remain. Most of the rehabilitated persons have been reintegrated to society. We are pleased to say that during operations conducted over the recent past, we only arrested three of the 12,000 who had fallen back into their past ways. That clearly indicates that the rehabilitation process is a success,” Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasooriya said at a press conference.

The Sri Lankan high commissioner in New Delhi, Prasad Kariyawasam, has been appointed as the new ambassador to the United States reports , Colombo Page.

The diplomat previously served as the permanent representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations in New York from 1995-1998.

The movement in personnel from India to the US comes after India allied with Sri Lanka at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in opposing the need for an international investigation into Sri Lanka’s atrocities, which was called for in a resolution strongly supported by the US.

The External Affairs Ministry and the Defence Ministry will hold a briefing for the diplomatic community in Colombo, on what the government claims are recent attempts to revive the LTTE, the Daily Mirror reported.

A series of inquiries regarding the recent ban of diaspora organisations and government claims of LTTE activity have been made by some countries, the paper said.

The Indian government's landmark housing scheme has stalled in Kilinochchi, due to on-going land grabs by the military, a local government official told Global Tamil News anonymously.

The official who said the army had asked them to earmark village lands in Kilinochchi for the military added,

"The people are subjected to harassment from the army, with the intention of grabbing their lands."