Lanka catches 24 more Indian fishermen
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Sri Lanka police took 24 Indian fishermen in custody, a day after arresting 118 fishermen belonging to the neighbouring country.
The fishermen were apprehended along with their seven boats and handed over to the Ilawalai police in Northern Jaffna peninsular on Wednesday by a group of local fishermen.
On Tuesday, a group of Lankan fishermen had apprehended 118 Indian fishermen allegedly straying into Sri Lankan waters, triggering protests in Tamil Nadu, where the fishermen believed to be coming from.
All the 118 fishermen were produced before a Point Pedro Magistrate court in Jaffna on Wednesday and remanded to judicial custody until February 28.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had said that India takes a ‘very serious view’ of such incidents and would take up the matter with the Sri Lankan Government.
Mr Singh said the Sri Lankan Government has already been told in strong terms that such a behaviour was not acceptable.
"I have been told that 118 fishermen have been taken into custody. We are taking up this matter with the Sri Lankan Government. We take a very serious view," he said in an interaction with television editors.
The arrest comes close on the heels of the killing of two Indian fishermen allegedly by the Sri Lankan Navy.
Mr Singh pointed out that foreign secretary Nirupama Rao was sent earlier this month to Colombo to "make a strong demarche to the Sri Lankan Government that this sort of behaviour is not acceptable among neighbourly countries."
External affairs minister S. M. Krishna had on February 1 said use of force against Indian fishermen should be part of the history and asked Sri Lanka to take a decision that will not upset the bilateral ties.
A meeting of the Indo-Sri Lanka Joint Working Group on the issue is likely to be held on this month to discuss the recent killing of the Indian fishermen threadbare.
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