Two Indian fishermen Injured in Sri Lankan Navy Firing

Karaikal: Two Indian fishermen were seriously injured when Sri Lankan naval personnel allegedly opened fire at their fishing boat off Kodiakarai coast, about 80 kms from on Thursday, fisheries department officials said.

The two fishermen from Karaikal district in Puducherry were part of a large group of fishermen that had ventured into the sea in more than 100 boats last evening, from here and Nagapattinam district in Tamil Nadu, Joint Director of Fisheries, Nagapattinam, Amal Xavier told PTI.

When they were fishing about 11 nautical miles off Kodiakarai coast, island nation's authorities opened fire at their boats in which the duo, Balamurugan (21) and Aravind (22) sustained severe injuries, he said.

However, all the fishermen managed to escape and reach Karaikal coast this morning with the injured, who have been admitted to Puducherry government hospital, he added.

The incident comes three days after the Indian Navy opened fire at a fibreglass boat with two armed Sri Lankans, and chased them away when they had allegedly tried to enter our territorial waters.

Condemning the firing incident, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry Fishermen's Association General Secretary, N J Bose said, during the recent talks held in New Delhi, both the governments had agreed to the request of the Fishermen Associations that such incidents should not recur.

Talking to reporters in Rameswaram on Thursday, he said, the action of the Sri Lankan navy is condemnable.

"The Sri Lankan government must apologise to the Indian government over the incident," he added.

During the ministerial meeting held on November 4 in New Delhi, India and Sri Lanka had decided to set up a Joint Working Group (JWG) on Fisheries to meet every three months and hold a meeting between the Ministers for Fisheries every six months to find a permanent solution to the emotive issue of fishermen.

Both governments had also agreed to the request by the Fishermen Associations that there should be no violence and no loss of life in the handling of fishermen by the Navies and Coast Guards of the two countries.