President Maithripala Sirisena on Tuesday (12) ordered the release of all the 37 Indian fishermen in custody in North following a meeting he had with a group of six Indian fishermen led by N.Devadas and Yesuraja, both from Rameswaram.

S.P.Anthonymuthu of the Indo-Lankan Fishermen Welfare Forum, told Indian media that President Sirisena stressed the harm done to the livelihood of the North Lankan Tamil fishermen by the bottom trawlers being used by the Indian fishermen extensively. 

Fishermen could satisfy about the discussion, Swaminathan asserted.

"With such a genial President in Sri Lanka, a Prime Minister like Modi in Delhi and peoples' leader Jayalalithaa in Tamil Nadu, the problems will be solved, and for the next thirty years, we should have no issues," he added.

Indian fishermen also sought permission to fish in the waters between the two countries, immunity from attacks and arrests by the Lankan navy and the release of detained fishermen and boats.

"So far three rounds of talks between fishermen's associations have been held. We hope the fourth one will be the last with the thrashing out of an agreement," Devadas said.

The fishermen had made a courtesy call on Fisheries Minister Mahinda Amaraweera.

"Their efforts to meet Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe failed because his office asked us to come through the Indian High Commission," Anthonymuthu said.

(With inputs from The New Indian Express)