The Sri Lankan government may consider releasing the 38 Indian fishermen in its custody if the 40 Sri Lankan fishermen currently detained in Indian prisons are released, the Sri Lankan government has said.
“We have requested the Indian government through our Foreign Ministry, and discussions are on with the Indian High Commission in Colombo,” acting Fisheries Minister Sarath Kumara Gunaratne told The Hindu on Thursday.
Thirty out of the 40 fishermen in India are detained in Tamil Nadu, while 10 are in a prison in Andhra Pradesh.
“It will be easier to release the Indian fishermen if the gesture is reciprocated,” said the Minister, who took charge after former Minister Rajitha Senaratne defected from President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government to join the join opposition ahead of Sri Lanka’s presidential elections scheduled January 8.
Hunger strike called-off
Meanwhile, as many as 38 Indian fishermen currently in a Jaffna prison -- following their arrest by the Sri Lankan Navy for alleged poaching – were on a hunger strike from Tuesday demanding early release. On Thursday, they called off the strike according to sources in the Indian Consulate in Jaffna.
Of the 38 fishermen, 14 were arrested in November and 24, a few months earlier.
The arrest and release of fishermen, on charges of crossing the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL), has emerged a major strain on the bilateral ties between India and Sri Lanka.
In 2013, a total of 676 fishermen were arrested in Sri Lankan waters for engaging in illegal fishing. As many as 126 trawlers were seized. This year, 774 fishermen have been arrested so far and 156 trawlers have been seized.
The issue is also highly politicised, as was evident in the recent release of five Indian fishermen who were on death row in Sri Lanka. The fishermen were released on November 19, after President Rajapaksa commuted their sentence using his executive powers. New Delhi negotiated with Colombo at the highest level, and the issue was also discussed when President Rajapaksa telephoned Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 9.
The Indian High Commission Colombo was on the job ever since the fishermen were arrested in November 2011, pursuing it vigorously after October 30 when the Colombo High Court sentenced them to death in the alleged drug trafficking case. Even as negotiations for the fishermen’s release through different channels were on, is it learnt that the Indian High Commissioner in Colombo raised the matter in person with President Rajapaksa at least twice, requesting for grant of full pardon to the fishermen.
All through, India maintained that the five fishermen were innocent and did not smuggle drugs. Nevertheless the fishermen were caught on the Sri Lankan side of the IMBL. While New Delhi was successful in securing the release of the five fishermen, the larger problem of alleged poaching by Indian fishermen persists, posing a serious challenge to Indo-Lanka relations, and to New Delhi’s ability to negotiate on other issues, an official source in New Delhi said.
