COLOMBO: The Sri Lankan Government is agitated over the recent statement of Defence Minister A.K. Antony in Parliament that Sri Lanka Navy (SLA) has killed 77 Indian fisher folk from 1991 to mid-April, 2007. Colombo has taken up the matter with New Delhi.

A senior official in the Sri Lanka Foreign Office told The Hindu that Mr. Antony had been unfair in making such a sweeping statement against the SLA.

"We are particularly disturbed at the statement as it ignores recent observations by several high-level functionaries of the Indian Government that the Tamil Tigers and other vested interests are behind some of the recent incidents of killing of fisher folk community."

The official said that a few days ago when the Indian Government raised the subject on complaints from the Tamil Nadu Government, Colombo conveyed to New Delhi that its naval forces had been given specific instructions not to target Indian fisher folk under any circumstances and the SLA would never intrude into the Indian maritime waters.

Endanger relations

Further, the official maintained, India was told that interested parties were trying to endanger relations between New Delhi and Colombo by putting the blame on the killings on the Sri Lanka forces.

The latest controversy is a fallout of a reply Mr. Antony gave on the floor of Rajya Sabha on Wednesday in response to an unstarred question on "attack on Indian fishermen by Sri Lanka Navy."

According to the Press Information Bureau press release, Mr. Antony told the House that the Government is aware that a number of fishermen from Tamil Nadu are being attacked and killed by Sri Lankan Navy during the recent years.

There have been incidents of firing on Indian fishing boats in Palk Bay and Gulf of Mannar area and recently slight increase in such incidents has been noticed.

To protect the Indian fishermen, surveillance and patrolling are regularly done by the Indian Navy and the Indian Coast Guard in the Indian waters of the Palk Bay and the Gulf of Mannar. Air surveillance is also undertaken.

Surveillance mechanisms

The surveillance mechanisms include coastal patrol, international maritime boundary patrol, air patrol, shallow water patrol and radar surveillance.

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