India rules out arming fishermen with guns to combat attacks
August 24, 2011 10:27 am
Ruling out the possibility of issuing guns for Indian fishermen to protect themselves in case of mid-sea attacks, two senior officials of the Ministry of External Affairs told the Madras High Court in India today that such a course of action would lead to “law and order problem and result in anarchy”.
The submission was made by a Director of External Affairs, Deepak Mittal and a
Joint Director of the External Affairs Ministry, Harsh Vardhan Shringla, in
their counter to a batch of PILs seeking, among other demands, protection for
Indian fishermen fishing near Katchatheevu.
The officials said that in all incidents in which Indian fishermen were
reported or alleged to have been killed or missing or presumed dead, the Lankan
Navy had denied involvement.
Katchatheevu, an islet, was ceded to Sri Lanka by India through an agreement in
1974.
Even though the Lankan Navy had denied any involvement, the Indian government
continued to raise the matter with Sri Lanka, they said. But while doing so, it
was guided by international diplomatic norms governing interaction with another
sovereign government which had full sovereign powers to patrol its territory,
they said.
Besides, the risks and dangers of straying into Lankan waters and
crossing the international maritime boundary line had been explained to Indian
fishermen, they said.
The officials said that according to information, no Indian fisherman was at
present detained in Sri Lanka for straying into Lankan waters for fishing.
However, 35 Indians were in Lankan jails for alleged involvement in offences
like smuggling drugs, they said.
The officials claimed that after the Joint Statement between India and Sri
Lanka in 2008, there had been a drop of around 90 per cent in the number of
Indian fishermen who had been arrested. This showed the understanding between
the two countries had a salutary effect on the situation, they said.
On Katchatheevu issue, they said there was no hindrance to exercise of rights
of access to visit the islet. The government had reached an understanding in
October 2008 with Sri Lanka to address some of the humanitarian and livelihood
issues of fishermen, they submitted.
India and Sri Lanka had bilaterally negotiated and demarcated the boundary line
between them in 1974, under which Katchatheevu fell under the Sri lankan side,
they said. The maritime boundary had already been delineated, they added.
The officials said the PILs pertaining to the case filed by two advocates, were
not maintainable as they involved relationship between two countries. The
issues related to safety and security of Indian fishermen and agreements
entered into by the two countries, they said.
Writ petitions with similar prayers like Katchatheevu should be retrieved had
been dismissed earlier, they said, adding since a Tamil Nadu government
petition regarding retrieval of Katchatheevu was also pending with the Supreme
Court, the High Court should not entertain the PILs.The case was posted to
August 25 for hearing, PTI reports.