The Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa pledged to hold talks with the Indian government in order to resolve the fishermen arrests and the crossing of territorial waters.
Addressing the General Fisheries Federation (GFF), Rajapaksa said:
“It is heartening to see that a large number of fishermen have come from the North and East. They were the most affected at the hands of separatist terrorism. The fisher families inherited an extremely cruel living as many of their members were forcibly recruited by the Tigers and subsequently killed. As a result the fishing industry in the North-East suffered a heavy blow with their production drastically depleted. But today they have the opportunity of going out fishing without fear or restrictions and they get plenty of government assistance,”
