Nirupama Rao to visit Sri Lanka to discuss killing of Indian fishermen

The fast-approaching assembly elections in Tamil Nadu have forced New Delhi to take this month’s killing of two fishermen from the state in Sri Lankan waters seriously.

DMK, which rules Tamil Nadu, is a close ally of Congress at the Centre and cannot afford to anger fishermen further after last week’s killing of a community member from Pushpavanam in Tirunelveli district.

As such, foreign secretary Nirupama Rao is flying down on January 30 to discuss the issue with Lankan foreign minister GL Peiris.

Both the Sri Lankan government and navy have denied a role in the killings and suspect third-party involvement.

According to an official statement, none of Lankan navy boats or patrol vessels was near the Indian fishermen when they were killed. In fact, the navy claims helping strayed Indian fishermen on several occasions.

Ministry of external affairs officials said the India-Lanka joint working group on fisheries, which has not met since 2006, needed to meet and talk. On the positive side, they said, the number of Indian fishermen apprehended by Sri Lanka had gone down from 127 in 2009 to just 34 in 2010. Meanwhile, the two navies are moving towards greater cooperation, with a joint exercise planned this year.