India, Sri Lanka to release 400 fishermen

In a significant move, India and Sri Lanka have decided to release over 400 fishermen, currently in custody of each other, in the next two weeks, a senior Agriculture Ministry official said here today.
"The process of releasing all fishermen and their fishing vessels will be completed in the next two weeks," said Raja Sekhar Vundru, Joint Secretary (fisheries) in the Agriculture Ministry.
So far, the two countries have released 52 fishermen each. There are still 240 Indians in Sri Lankan custody for allegedly poaching in Lankan waters, while 160 Sri Lankans are held by India, he said.
According to sources, maximum number of Sri Lankan fishermen are in jails in Andhra Pradesh, where court proceedings have begun, delaying the process of their release. Some of them are in Tamil Nadu and Odisha.

Vundru said the two nations have agreed to set up a joint-committee comprising three members each from both sides to look into time-bound release of fishermen.
This decision was taken in a meeting held yesterday between Sri Lanka's minister of fisheries Rajitha Senaratne and agriculture minister Sharad Pawar.

Vundru, who would be heading the committee from India side, said the panel would also finalise the draft memorandum of understanding (MoU) to be signed between two countries for setting up of an institutional mechanism to resolve the fishermen issue and for development of the fishery sector.
"We have decided to set up an institutional arrangement to look into the cases of fishermen arrested on both sides and to expedite the matter," Pawar had told PTI yesterday after meeting the Sri Lankan minister.

"Hopefully from next week, we will see some development on both sides in this regard. If this does not work. We will soon take some other actions," he had said.
Significantly, the release of fishermen, which comes ahead of a meeting of Fishermen's Associations from the two countries in Chennai on January 20, 2014, was part of a process and understanding reached between the two governments prior to the talks.