Nirupama Rao, India's top diplomat, is to travel to Sri Lanka to raise the issue of the alleged killings of Indian fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy, news reports said Friday. New Delhi has taken a tough stand on the matter despite Sri Lanka's denials of involvement in the deaths and is sending the foreign secretary to Colombo on Saturday, the NDTV network reported, quoting government sources.
A fisherman from the southern state of Tamil Nadu died in Lankan waters Saturday, days after a similar alleged killing. The Sri Lankan government had denied any wrongdoing by its navy and said India should provide further information on the incidents.
New Delhi had lodged a strong protest describing the incidents "very serious" and "unacceptable". It called on Sri Lankan authorities to desist from the use of force against fishermen. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has come under increasing pressure from his coalition partner, Tamil Nadu's Dravida Munnetra Kazagham party, to take up the matter with Colombo.
TheDMKhas been facing political heat ahead of local elections in with rivals criticize the ruling United Progressive Alliance for its "ineffectiveness" in ending such incidents. Indian fishermen and the Sri Lankan Navy clash frequently, amid Sri Lanka's complaints that the fishermen trespass into its waters. During the war against the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the Sri Lankan government banned fishing in the seas off its the northern coast, traditional Tamil strongholds. Sri Lankan authorities said earlier as fishing was permitted now, there could be misunderstandings and conflicts between fishermen from Sri Lanka and India, whose shorelines are only 50 kilometres apart in places.
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