A day after 25 Indian fishermen were arrested, Sri Lanka today said no one had the right to enter its territorial waters, indicating that future arrests were possible despite recent talks to resolve the thorny issue.
Addressing the media on his visit to New Delhi last week, Fisheries Minister Rajitha Senaratne said, "There was a suggestion from some quarters that we should refrain from arresting. I told them (Indian side) talks have no link with our right to prevent illegal fishing."
Senaratne had met his Indian counterpart Sharad Pawar to thrash out a solution to the recurring problem of illegal fishing and continued arrests of fishermen from both nations. The two countries also decided to release over 400 fishermen.
However, the Sri Lankan Navy yesterday again arrested 25 Indian fishermen for allegedly poaching in the northern waters.
So far, both India and Sri Lanka 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, according to official figures.
Yesterday's arrests came ahead of a January 27 meeting of a joint committee appointed to work out a mechanism to look into the issue so that fishermen, who might have inadvertently crossed the International Maritime Boundary Line, are released in a time-bound manner in future.
Senaratne praised the Indian government for the initiative.
"We were treated very well and excellent facilities were provided to us. India paid the full cost of our 12-member delegation," he said.
Senaratne said the Indian government was acting independently of Tamil Nadu.
"Never at any time they told us that Ms Jayalalithaa needs to be consulted before making a decision," he said referring to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa's demand that the fishermen be released immediately.
Jayalalithaa yesterday sought "decisive" action by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to secure the fishermen's release and facilitate smooth conduct of talks on the issue between the two countries next week.
In a letter to Singh, she expressed dismay over Sri Lankan navy resorting to "unprovoked assault and abduction of innocent fishermen belonging to Tamil Nadu," arresting 25 of them hailing from Ramanathapuram.
