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Sri Lankan navy denies killing Indian fisherman
The Sri Lankan navy on Sunday denied its personnel had attacked and killed an Indian fisherman off the Tamil Nadu coast. Sutirtho Patranobis reports.
The Sri Lankan navy on Sunday denied its personnel had attacked and killed an Indian fisherman off the Tamil Nadu coast.
Reports from Chennai said within days of a similar incident, another Tamil fisherman was killed by the Lankan navy in the last 24 hours. The Indian boat was allegedly surrounded and then attacked by the Lankan navy.
A senior navy official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said no such incident had occurred in the last few days.
"We have seen the reports in the Indian media. The navy is waiting for a report from the Sri Lankan deputy high commission in Chennai on the incident. We don’t have any details like the time and place (of the incident).
But we have already carried out basic checks and found that there’s be no such incident,’’ the officer said.
The navy spokesperson, Captain A Senarath, categorically denied the incident, the Daily Mirror online said.
"He further added these allegations were made time to time and that they suspected that few elements wanted to create problems and harm the goodwill between the Sri Lankan Navy and the Indian Navy and its officials,’’ the website reported on Sunday afternoon.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa had ordered an inquiry into a similar incident that occurred 10 days ago. Rajapaksa had told a gathering of foreign correspondents that a mechanism needed to be evolved to settle the festering issue.
Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday told reporters that the latest incident would be taken up with the Lankan foreign ministry through channels in the Ministry of External Affairs.
