However, the Sri Lankan government has appealed to India to take strict measures to prevent Indian fishermen from entering Sri Lankan waters for fishing illegally. According to Sri Lanka’s Minister of Transport, Highways, Ports and Civil Aviation Bimal Rathnayaka stopping such activities would be deeply appreciated by the people of northern Sri Lanka who rely on fishing for their primary livelihood.
Modi is expected to visit Sri Lanka next month and his statement is ahead of a visit there. Addressing the economic struggles of the northern Sri Lankan fishing community, particularly in places like Jaffna, Mannar and Thalaimannar where fishing is the only profession for locals, Rathnayaka raised the issue of illegal fishing by false fishermen (one ethnic Sinhala fisherman with government clearance to fish, while another man of any ethnic group rides in the back fishing for the other man).
“We have always recognized India’s help to Sri Lanka over the years. The greatest support to the people of Jaffna would be preventing Indian fishermen from encroaching into Sri Lankan waters,” Rathnayaka said in Parliament Wednesday.
India also played a big part in the northern Sri Lankans during the time India was in the armed conflict with the LTTE, and protected many people in the region, he further recalled.
Speaking of gratitude, Rathnayaka appealed to the Indian government, the Indian Tamil Nadu government and Indian MPs to act and do something concrete to safeguard the existence of the northern Sri Lankan fishermen’s livelihood. But he said preventing illegal fishing would be a real test of India’s pledge to support the Tamil lobby in Sri Lanka.
“Were all these other ways of helping truly genuine and if they cannot extend this help, then the question is—was all this really genuine?” Rathnayaka questioned this long-standing issue and asked for immediate action.
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