Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president B Gnanadesikan says India has to follow a soft approach towards Sri Lanka for the benefit of all concerned and to protect Tamils and Indian fishermen.
He said India considers Sri Lanka a friendly nation, taking into consideration the welfare of Tamils living there and the welfare of Indian fishermen. “We have to follow only a soft approach if all have to be benefitted and to protect the Tamils and fishermen,” he said.
Gnanadesikan said there was need to protect fishermen from alleged attacks of Sri Lankan naval men and fishermen would have to celebrate St. Anthony’s festival in Katchativu, an islet ceded by India to Sri Lanka in the 1970s. “All this should be borne in mind,” he said.
He said a committee comprising officials and fishermen from Sri Lanka and India had been formed to resolve problems faced by Indian fishermen and scheduled to meet between Dec 1 and 7. But Tamil Nadu government’s delay in giving consent has seen the meeting postponed to third week of December, he said.
He said the Centre would consider the fishermen’s demand for a fishing harbour in Rameswaram. The centre would also take steps to secure the release of fishermen arrested by the Sri Lankan government. “I am also pressing for it,” he was quoted as saying by PTI.
