Sri Lankan PM justifies shooting of Indian fishermen amid Sushma visit

Colombo, March 7, 2015: Amid diplomatic moves to forge closer ties, the festering fishermen's issue between India and Sri Lanka on Saturday threatened to snowball into a major row with Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe justifying his country's navy shooting intruding Indian fishermen. Wickremesinghe told a television channel that his country's law has a provision to "shoot" anyone trying to "break into my house" -- referring to Indian fishermen intruding into his country's waters, as he met Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj here on Saturday. The Indian minister is here to prepare the ground for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's bilateral visit next week, the first by an Indian prime minister since 1987. Indian external affairs ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said that India will take up the fishermen issue with Colombo during talks between Sushma Swaraj and the Sri Lankan side. "This is an ongoing dialogue between India and Sri Lanka; the external affairs minister will certainly take up this matter today (Saturday) both with her Sri Lankan counterpart and with the Sri Lankan prime minister. We want to ensure both India and Sri Lanka are able to work together," the spokesperson said. Sushma Swaraj also held delegation level talks with her counterpart Mangala Samaraweera during which all bilateral issues were discussed.