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Sri Lankan PM warns Indian fishermen against entering waters

Xinhua, March 7, 2015 Adjust font size:

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has warned Indian fishermen not to cross into Sri Lankan waters to catch fish, local media reported on Saturday.

The newly elected prime minister said that the issue of Indians poaching in Sri Lankan waters is a concern to Sri Lanka, adding that if the Indian fishermen stop bottom trawling and use smaller fishing boats, then Sri Lanka will be ready to consider allowing Indians to catch fish in part of Sri Lanka.

However, he said that so far there has not been any agreement to allow Indians to catch fish in Sri Lanka and Indians who cross Sri Lankan waters illegally will face arrest.

The Sri Lankan navy is only acting as per law when it fires at Indian fishermen entering Lankan waters and therefore they should keep away, the prime minister added.

The Indo-Sri Lanka fishing matter has been a long standing issue between the two countries with many fishermen from both sides facing arrest for poaching into each other's waters illegally.

The Ministry of External Affairs of India is working on fixing a fresh date for holding a third round of talks between fishermen of Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu after the Indian state government said that it would be difficult to host it on March 11 as proposed by Sri Lanka.

Earlier, the Tamil Nadu government proposed the talks to be held on March 5. However, Sri Lanka sought more time as the new Sri Lankan government was pre-occupied with its 100 Days Programme. Since the centre was reportedly keen on scheduling the talks ahead of the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Colombo, Sri Lanka had proposed March 11 as the fresh date for talks.

A fresh date is yet to be confirmed by the two sides. Endi