Minister of Reconstruction, Resettlement and Hindu Religious Affairs D.M. Swaminathan on Friday (01) said that Sri Lanka Navy would not shoot Indian fishermen intruding on Sri Lanka’s water, but would take appropriate action to ward off such threats.

 

Swaminathan, who was on a visit to the Dharbaranyeswarar temple in Thirunallar, India,  further stated that both Sri Lankan and Indian governments would take necessary actions to solve the decades-old fishermen dispute between two countries through diplomatic channels.

 

“Both the Indian and Sri Lankan governments have the sovereign powers to protect their own maritime borders. As protecting the border of a nation is the chief responsibility of the government, the respective governments have the legal authority to shoot down intruders. However, the Sri Lankan government would not take the same stance in the case of Indian fishermen,” he asserted.

 

At the same time, Sri Lankan government and its judicial system would leave no stones unturned for punishing Indian fishermen according to the law for the offence of poaching into the Sri Lankan water, Swaminathan said

 

“The punishments awarded to the Indian fishermen detained by the Sri Lankan navy charged with the offence of poaching in the Sri Lankan waters can neither be reduced nor be scrapped. By-law, Indian fishermen violating the Sri Lankan maritime boundary would be punished,” the minister added.

(With Inputs From The New Indian Express)