After Sri lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe’s statement saying that his country had the right to shoot Indian fishermen if they entered lankan waters and drawing a parallel with the Italian Marines’ case sparked outrage, New Delhi on Saturday told Colombo that the matter should be resolved through dialogue, and that there was absolutely no comparison between the two issues.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, who is in Colombo to prepare the ground for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the island nation next week, made this clear to Wickramasinghe during her meeting with him.
The Sri lankan Prime Minister in an interview to a TV channel equated the Indian fishermen entering their waters with the case of Italian Marines, facing murder charges in India and said the lankan Navy holds the right to shoot them down.
Wickramasinghe said the Indian fishermen were taking away the livelihood of Northern lankan fishermen. “Why are you coming into our watersIJ Why are you fishing in our watersIJ Stay on the Indian side...There will be no issue...No one will shoot anyone else. Otherwise don’t make accusations of human rights violation by the Navy. You came in there. If someone tries to break into my house, I can shoot. If he gets killed...law allows me to do that,” he said.
Wickramasinghe also linked the right to take coercive action to the issue of Italian sailors being arrested, saying that if India is friendly with Italy, it should show the “same magnanimity to Italy that you want us to show”.
The lankan PM’s controversial remark ahead of Prime Minister Modi’s visit to the neighbouring nation when Parliament is in session here, is likely to find an echo in the House. Raising the ‘emotive’ issue of its fishermen with Wickramasinghe, Swaraj insisted on their case being treated as a humanitarian one since it deals with their livelihood. She also requested the lankan leadership for early release of apprehended Indian fishermen and their boats.
Swaraj explained the difference between the cases of Italian Marines and Indian fishermen to the lankan PM and said that the two cannot be equated. “She explained our view that the issue of the fishermen is a humanitarian one. It is an issue of livelihood,” MEA spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said.
It was explained that there are different aspects even if one views it either from a humanitarian perspective or legal perspective. “And the External Affairs Minister forthrightly explained to the Sri lankan Prime Minister our perspective on this. Our understanding is that he does understand what the nuances and differences are and agreed to take this conversation forward,” Akbaruddin said.
The problem between Indian and lankan fishermen in the narrow Palk Strait is an emotive, perennial and complicated issue for both countries. However, under new President Maithripala Sirisena, India is looking forward to a long-term solution to this.
In January, lanka had in-principle agreed to release the boats captured by its Navy but sought time to work out a mechanism with regard to this. Already, the Joint Working Group comprising officials and fishermen representatives from both sides are struggling to find a solution to the fishing issue. The idea is to reach an agreement that reduces the conflict and use of force by lankan Navy against Indian fishermen straying into lankan waters and to work out procedures for lanka in response to fishing violations by Indians.
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 their waters 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.
“As far as I’m concerned, I have very strong lines. This is our waters...Fishermen of Jaffna should be allowed to fish. We stopped them from fishing, that’s why the Indian fishermen came in, they 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,” Wickramasinghe said.
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 (lankan civil) war, they felt some of them actually were involved in supplying of arms,” Wickramasinghe said.
“As far as we are concerned, even today the northern fishermen are shouting why the Navy isn’t defending them ...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.