Sri Lanka's president Maithripala Sirisena urgeds Tamils protesting against his visit to Jaffna, not to protest against him as it would give the "devil" an opportunity. 

"If you stage protests against me and I am weakened, the devil will get an opportunity," he was quoted by Ceylon Today as saying. 

Mr Sirisena who was surrounded by armed officers, was confronted with protesters on Saturday as he visited Jaffna.

Sri Lankan police pushed back protesters who were holding black flags as a symbol of their anger and frustration at the government's failure to deliver on its commitments made to the Tamil people. 

India and Sri Lanka held talks on Saturday aimed at finding a permanent solution to the arrest of Tamil Nadu fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy. 

Both sides pledged to find a permanent solution to the arrests, the Times of India reported. 

India's minister of agriculture and farmers welfare, Radha Mohan Singh and Sri Lanka's fisheries minister Mahinda Amaraweera took part. 

"The Ministers agreed that a permanent solution to the fishermen issues should be found at the earliest," Sri Lanka's ministry of external affairs said in a statement.

Sri Lankan police officers clashed with Tamils protesting against the president's visit to Jaffna on Saturday. 

Protesters held black flags and photographs of their missing loved ones. Anger and frustration has been rising within Tamils in the North-East at the government's failure to deliver on its pledged commitments.

Today's protest follows a demonstration yesterday in Jaffna, which called for the release of Tamil political prisoners. 

Armed STF officers escorted the president as he made his way past the protest. He later stopped to speak to the protesters.

Sri Lanka has ranked 84^th out of 119 countries in the 2017 Global Hunger Index (GHI) released by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) this week, with child malnutrition increasing on the island.

Amidst concerns of increasing military involvement in civilian life across the North-East, the Sri Lankan military held a series of events across Jaffna this month to mark World Children’s Day this month.

Sri Lanka's armed Special Task Force officers were deployed to Jaffna on Friday, surrounding Tamils protesting outside the Northern governor's office against the ongoing detention of Tamil political prisoners. 

The UN Special Rapporteur for Truth, Justice and Reparations visited Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu on Thursday.

The bodies of two Tamil youth who have been killed in Nunavil in Jaffna have been recovered by Sri Lankan police, reports The Island.

It is unclear how the youth were killed, with conflicting reports over the cause of death.

The bodies of the youth have now been transferred from the Chavakachcheri hospital to Jaffna Hospital, where post-mortems are to be conducted.

The Sri Lankan president, Maithripala Sirisena on Wednesday met with the National Freedom Front group regarding the constitution amendment. 

The NFF, led by Wimal Weerawansa has been vociferous in campaigning against any constitutional change, arguing that "the government was trying to bring in the new Constitution on the requirement of the Western forces and Tamil Diaspora to please Tamil separatists."

"NFF has informed the President regarding three main points including the new constitutional amendment," Adaderana reported. 

Sri Lankan navy personnel arrested five Tamil Nadu fishermen on Thuesday, who are alleged to have crossed into the island's waters, The Hindu reported. 

The men were reported to have been fishing off the cost of Neduntheevu. 

“The naval men also seized the boat used by the fishermen from this town and took them to Mannar naval camp in Sri Lanka,” Manikandan, Assistant Director of Fisheries, was quoted by The Hindu as saying.