As many as nineteen Indian fishermen who were earlier detained by the Sri Lankan Navy were were repatriated to India on Wednesday after being released by authorities, the Indian High Commission said.

Taking it to X, the Indian High Commission in Sri Lanka said, “Returning home! 19 Indian fishermen have been repatriated from Sri Lanka and are now on their way from Colombo to Chennai.”

This year, the Sri Lankan Navy has so far held twenty-three Indian trawlers and a hundred and seventy-eight Indian fishermen for allegedly fishing in the island nation’s waters.

India-Sri Lanka fishermen issue

The fishermen issue is a contentious one in the ties between India and Sri Lanka, with Lankan Navy personnel even firing at Indian fishermen in the Palk Strait and seizing their boats in several alleged incidents of illegally entering Sri Lankan territorial waters.

Fishermen from both countries are arrested frequently for inadvertently trespassing into each other’s waters. In 2023, the island nation’s Navy arrested 240 Indian fishermen along with 35 trawlers for allegedly poaching in Sri Lankan waters.

Row over Katchatheevu Island

This development of releasing nineteen Indian fishermen came amidst the ongoing row over the Katchatheevu island after India’s ruling BJP blamed the Congress Party for ceding the tiny island to Sri Lanka in 1974.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday cited a media report to assert that new facts reveal that the Congress Party “callously” gave away Katchatheevu island to Sri Lanka.External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar also slammed the Congress Party and ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) over the Katchchatheevu island issue.

--Agencies

Returning home! 19 Indian fishermen have been repatriated from Sri Lanka and are now on their way from Colombo to Chennai. pic.twitter.com/ASJ5yRwaUI

— India in Sri Lanka (@IndiainSL) April 3, 2024