By S Venkat Narayan
NEW DELHI, March 7: Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has warned that Indian fishermen can be shot if they intrude into Sri Lankan waters.
He said in an interview to Thanthi TV, an Indian news channel, that Indian fishermen are taking away the livelihood of Northern Lanka fishermen. “If someone tries to break into my house, I can shoot. If he gets killed…The law allows me to do that,” he said in the interview broadcast on Friday night.
Talking about the fishermen issue, he said, “As far as I’m concerned, I have very very strong lines. These are our waters…Fishermen of Jaffna should be allowed to fish. We stopped them from fishing (during the civil war that ended in 2009). That’s why the Indian fishermen came in. They (fishermen of both countries) are willing to have a deal…Let’s have a reasonable deal. But not at the expense of the income of the Northern Fishermen…No,” Wickremesinghe declared.
Asked about allegations of Sri Lankan Navy shooting fishermen with around 600 Indians killed in the last many years, the Sri Lankan Prime Minister said there has been no such incident recently with the last one being in 2011.
“Part of that earlier was during the time of (the Lankan civil) war: they felt some of them actually were involved in supplying of arms (to the LTTE),” Wickramasinghe said.
“As far as we are concerned, even today the northern fishermen are shouting: Why isn’t the Navy defending us? We have a job explaining to them: Look these are territorial waters, but we still have to go and talk to India and sort it out,” he said.
Wickremesinghe also questioned the alleged illegal fishing by Indian fishermen in Lankan waters. “Why are you coming into our waters? Why are you fishing in our waters? Stay on the Indian side…There will be no issue…No one will shoot anyone else,” he said.
“You stay on the Indian side, Let our fishermen stay on the Sri Lankan side… Otherwise, don’t make accusations of human rights violation by the Sri Lankan Navy. You came in there,” he added.
Wickremesinghe also raised the issue of Italian sailors being arrested by India, saying that if India is friendly with Italy, it should show the “same magnanimity to Italy that you want us to show to Indian fishermen.”
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 have 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.
Wickremesinghe also ruled out the possibility of Sri Lanka either returning or leasing out the Katchchathivu island to India. It’s a settled issue. Even India is not asking for it, he added.
Reacting to the interview, Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin said in Colombo on Saturday that New Delhi will strongly take up with Sri Lanka the fishermen issue during delegation-level talks between the two countries.
“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,” Akbaruddin said.
’We hope to resolve this in a peaceful and friendly manner,” he said ahead of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj’s talks in Colombo with the Lankan leadership.
Courtesy:Sunday Island