Indian fishermen will be shot if they cross border, says Sri Lankan PM Ranil Wickramesinghe

The Sri Lankan navy is only acting as per law when it fires at Indian fishermen entering Lankan waters and therefore they should keep away, said Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickramesinghe in an interview to a Tamil news channel.

The Sri Lankan navy is only acting as per law when it fires at Indian fishermen entering Lankan waters and therefore they should keep away, said Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickramesinghe in an interview to a Tamil news channel.

Wickramesinghe's strong comments come even as fishermen from both sides are engaged in talks and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit Sri Lanka next week.

"If someone tries to break into my house, I can shoot. If he gets killed, law allows me to do that," he said in the interview to Thanthi TV broadcast on Friday night. "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 (Jaffna fishermen) are willing to have a deal. Let's have a reasonable settlement but not at the cost of the livelihood of northern fishermen," he said.

Wickramesinghe said the shooting of fishermen does not amount to human rights violations. "Why are you coming into our waters? Why are you fishing in our waters? Stay on the Indian side. There will be no issue," he said. He also said that Katchatheevu is a closed matter as far as Sri Lanka is concerned. "Katchatheevu is a part of Sri Lanka. Delhi also thinks it is a part of Sri Lanka. I know it is a part of Tamil Nadu politics.