PM Modi to raise issue of Indian fishermen during talks with Sri Lankan President

New Delhi: India has stressed the need to “avoid the use of force under all circumstances” with regard to Indian fishermen during talks with Sri Lanka.

In the upcoming talks with Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will raise the issue of the welfare of Indian fishermen, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said on Friday.

Prime Minister Modi will travel to Sri Lanka on a stat visit from April 4–6, at the invitation of Sri Lankan President Dissanayake.

In August last year, an Indian fisherman had died after his fishing boat capsized in the sea while resisting arrest by a Sri Lankan Navy patrol vessel. India had summoned a senior Sri Lankan diplomat in New Delhi to register its “strong protest” over the incident, while leaders of the fishing community in Rameswaram demanded that the government register a murder case against Sri Lankan Navy personnel.

FS Misri, briefing the media, said that India has “always focused on the need to avoid the use of force under all circumstances” with regard to the fishermen issue in discussions with Sri Lanka.

“We feel that both sides understand the need to continue our ongoing dialogue, our constructive engagement, to eventually achieve a long-lasting and mutually acceptable solution to the issue. I have no doubt that PM will raise issues related to the welfare of our fishermen during his meeting with the Sri Lanka president,” he said.

Earlier in his comments, the FS related the fishermen issue to the 1974 agreement arrived at between India and Sri Lanka where India gave up its rights to the island of Katchatheevu, an issue that created a furore ahead of the Lok Sabha elections with PM Modi raking it up to accuse the Congress party of compromising with India’s territorial integrity by ceding the island to Sri Lanka.

In June 1974, then-Prime Ministers of India and Sri Lanka, signed an agreement to define the boundary between their nations in the waters from the Palk Strait to Adam's Bridge. According to media reports, a joint statement issued on June 28, 1974, declared that the boundary had been established as lying “one mile off the west coast of the uninhabited" Katchatheevu.

The FS said, referring to the agreements: “The fishermen’s issue is a longstanding issue, it’s also something whose origin lies in certain arrangements that were arrived at many years ago in the mid ‘70s when the international maritime line between India and Sri Lanka was agreed upon by the authorities both at the centre and the state level, and there were formal agreements that were signed with regard to the respective rights in this particular area.

“Since then, on grounds of alleged crossing of this line by fishermen from our side, there are arrests on the Sri Lankan side, and a process has to be gone through. We have throughout been in close contact with the Sri Lankan authorities at all levels, and in practically every meeting with Sri Lanka this issue is taken up very, very forcefully by our side; and our central message has always been that these are issues that should be seen through the humanitarian and livelihood concerns lens.”

FS Misri said that both sides have arrived at agreements from time to time on how to handle the fishermen issue. He said the joint working group on fisheries between the two sides held its last meeting in October last year. There is also a mechanism for fishermen’s associations of the two sides to meet.

“Our effort is to continue to resolve these issues. Find mutual agreement on these issues,” he said, adding that the Indian High Commission in Colombo and the Indian consulate in Jaffna “remain very closely involved” to help the Indian fishermen.

“We extend legal as well as other kinds of assistance to them. Sometime there is medical assistance that is required. And we also facilitate the repatriation as early as possible of released fishermen from Sri Lanka.”

On Thursday, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar told the Rajya Sabha, in a statement, that the Government of India attaches the highest priority to the safety, security and welfare of Indian fishermen.

"The Government has been consistently taking up these issues, including the early release and repatriation of Indian fishermen and fishing boats, with the Sri Lankan Government through bilateral mechanisms, diplomatic channels, and various official interactions, including by the Prime Minister in his recent meeting (16 December 2024) with the Sri Lankan President. In all our interactions, it has been conveyed that this issue may be considered purely on humanitarian and livelihood grounds."