India reacts after Lanka PM warns Indian fishermen could be shot if they enter Lankan waters
India will strongly take up with Sri Lanka the fishermen issue during delegation-level talks between the two countries, officials said on Saturday.
“India and Sri Lanka have been approaching this as a humanitarian matter which is an emotional issue. This is not an issue that can be addressed immediately with quick-fix solutions but we will work on it as friends and maritime neighbours,” ministry of external affairs spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said.
We hope to resolve this in a peaceful and friendly manner,” he said ahead of external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj’s talks here with the Lankan leadership.
Swaraj is here on a two-day trip to set the stage for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the country, the first bilateral tour by an Indian premier in over 25 years.
Swaraj on Friday had called on Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena, who assured her that his government is committed to strengthening ties with India.
Ahead of Modi’s visit, Premier Ranil Wickramasinghe has stoked a controversy suggesting that Indian fishermen may be shot if they intruded into Sri Lankan waters.
Alleging that Indian fishermen were taking away the livelihood of Northern Lanka fishermen, he told Tamil Thanthi TV that, “If someone tries to break into my house, I can shoot. If he gets killed…Law allows me to do that.”
The remarks by Sri Lankan Prime Minister on the fishermen issue will also be raised by external affairs minister Swaraj during her meeting with her Lankan counterpart Mangala Samaraweera, ministry of external affairs sources said.
The external affairs minister will raise the fishermen issue during her talks with her Lankan counterpart and Prime Minister Wickramasinghe, they said.
There have been several cases of arrest and abduction of Indian fishermen in the last month.
Sri Lankan fishermen have been complaining that since the advent of new government, the number of Indian fishermen breaching the country’s waters for illegal fishing has been increasing.
As many as 86 Indian fishermen were arrested and their 10 fishing boats seized by the Sri Lanka navy for allegedly poaching in the country’s waters last month.
(PTI / Times of India)
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it is obvious and simple no one can enter another persons house without permission if they do it is called trespassing and it is against the law can be punished in a court and also the owner of the house has all the rite to protect his house and property in self def-fence now what Indian fisherman are doing here in Sri-Lankan waters is plunder India may be our neighbor and powerful nation but it has no right to enter our waters and plunder our resources so i say our prime minister is right he is a straight forward man he has said what has to be said truth may bitter but it is the truth our fisherman also have to have lives to live families to take care of so if the Indian fisherman are going to plunder the only way these Sri-Lankan fisherman revenue how do you expect them to survive so Please India you may be like Goliath but remember David so please do not try to bully us we may be small but let me remind you we cant be bullied plundered and also scared
of course, intrusion of Indian fishermen in SL’s territorial water is punishable by law.
This intrusion, not only causing problems to our fisher folk but is renewing the threat of arms trade by LTTE rump.
This Amma, who is Modi’s FM, is incapable of the foreign affairs. However, that is nor problem. She had close friends in the previous regime which had handiya’s like Basil.
Sri Lanka should protect its borders to the best of its ability; we have a navy who can do that. If the current navy leadership is incapable, bring back capable Naval leaders like Thushara Samarasinghe. He was the hero responsible for destroying LTTE arms shipments.
Any Indian boat which is detected in our territorial waters should be warned to turn back and if the warning is not carried out, we should use our Naval might to protect or sovereignty.