“We witnessed the corrupt use of social media to create domestic unrest and cyber crime. Youth have been targeted and they became pawns of misplaced agendas. These are dangerous trends that need to be arrested and addressed effectively through this forum.”

"Senior Australian officials have directly registered with the Sri Lankan government Australia's concerns on this issue and sought clarification from Sri Lankan counterparts, including on practical implications of the listings."

“We note with serious concern that this regressive step taken by the government is consistent with many other measures that it continues to take in the North and the East that are against the spirit of reconciliation. These measures include the military occupation of private lands, and the arbitrary arrest, detention and ‘rehabilitation’ of Tamil youth under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA),” the TNA said.

The Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF) have said that their Kilinochchi organiser was arrested on Friday to prevent the party from holding a demonstration it had planned for Monday, to demand the resettlement of displaced Tamils in their own homes.

“The government tried to use intimidation to stop a democratic demonstration that had been organised according to the law. The arrest took place since the party and affected people stood firm in going ahead with the demonstration legally. This arrest was undertaken with the intention of halting the democratic demonstration planned by our party, and of crippling our activities in Kilinochchi," the TNPF said in a statement on Saturday.