Sri Lanka releases 24 more fishermen

A day after a Sri Lankan court ordered release of 116 fishermen from Tamil Nadu ahead of the proposed talks between the island nation and India to sort out the vexed fishermen's issue, another court in Mannar today ordered release of 24 fishermen and their five boats.

The fishermen were arrested by Sri Lankan navy for allegedly crossing International Maritime Boundary Line and fishing in the island nation's waters.

Official sources said 32 more Indian fishermen were yet to be released from Sri Lankan prisons.

Representatives of India and Sri Lankan officials and fishermen's associations had participated in a meeting here on January 27 to chalk out a solution to the dispute over fishing in Palk Straits, which had seen Tamil Nadu fishermen frequently coming under alleged attacks and detentions by Lankan Navy.

Sri Lanka accuses Tamil Nadu fishermen of straying into their territorial waters, while the latter maintain they are only fishing in their traditional areas, especially around Katchatheevu, an islet ceded by India to Colombo in 1974.