Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit, Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has sparked a major controversy by suggesting that Indian fishermen could be shot if they intruded into the country's waters.
Alleging that Indian fishermen were taking away the livelihood of those from Northern Lanka, Mr Wickremesinghe told a Tamil news channel, Thanthi TV, "If someone tries to break into my house, I can shoot. If he gets killed... Law allows me to do that."
"As far as I'm concerned, I have very, very strong lines. This is our waters... Fishermen of Jaffna should be allowed to fish. We stopped them from fishing, that's why the Indian fishermen came in. They are willing to have a deal... Let's have a reasonable deal. But not at the expense of the income of the Northern fishermen... No." he said.
"Part of that earlier was during the time of (Lankan civil) war, they felt some of them were actually involved in supplying of arms," Mr Wickremesinghe said.
Mr Wickremesinghe also questioned the alleged illegal fishing by Indian fishermen in Sri Lankan waters, saying, "Why are you coming into our waters? Why are you fishing in our waters? Stay on the Indian side... There will be no issue... No one will shoot anyone else," he said.
There have been several cases of arrests and abductions of Indian fishermen in the last month.
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