Vigneswaran hits out at PM’s remarks

After Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Jaffna, the Chief Minister of Tamil-majority region in Sri Lanka hit out at Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe for his controversial comments on shooting trespassing Indian fishermen.

Vigneswaran said “that is not the way for a head of government to say to a friendly country. As far as the fishermen are concerned, all deep sea trawlers must be sent to Bay of Bengal or the Arabian Sea.”

“The solution is to prohibit trawlers in the Palk Strait Area and have a Palk Strait management committee and they should be in a position to see that none of these things are happening and that they go to deep sea,” Vigneswaran added.

Wickramasinghe had alleged that Indian fishermen were taking away the livelihood of Northern Lanka fishermen.

Wickramasinghe had alleged that Indian fishermen were taking away the livelihood of Northern Lanka fishermen. “If someone tries to break into my house, I can shoot. If he gets killed, law allows me to do that,” he said.

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 in February.

Modi on Saturday night returned home after wrapping up his five-day three- nation tour.

During his Sri Lanka visit, the first by an Indian PM in almost 28 years, Modi reached out to the country, saying the security of the two nations is “indivisible” and favoured a life of equality, justice and dignity for Tamils in its “new journey” of peace and reconciliation.

CNN-IBN