COLOMBO: For the first time in the history of Indo-Sri Lankan negotiations on the fishing issue troubling the two countries, India has agreed to “consider” Sri Lanka’s proposal for jointly patrolling the Palk Strait by their navies.
The Terms of Reference for the Joint Working Group on Fisheries (JWGF) includes “ascertaining possibilities for cooperation on joint patrolling” by the navies.
The other new commitment by India is to “expedite the transition towards ending the practice of bottom trawling at the earliest”.
India agreeing to “work out the modalities for the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for handing over of apprehended fishermen” indicates that it agrees to the apprehension and detention of fishermen who cross the International Maritime Boundary Line illegally.
The JWGF will include “representatives from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, the Coast Guards and Navies of the two countries”.
According to a member of the Sri Lankan delegation that attended the Foreign and Fisheries Ministerial-level talks in New Delhi on November 5, the issue of giving Tamil Nadu fishermen three years time to give up bottom trawling and take to deep sea fishing was not even raised.
When India-Sri Lanka relations were not very good due to the war in the Tamil North, India had turned a deaf ear to Sri Lanka’ pleas for joint patrolling. But now, with peace returning to the North, and the accent is on bilateral cooperation for the economic and social development of the North, India and Sri Lanka are exploring ways of addressing contentious issues so that development takes place to the benefit of the two countries.
While the JWG will meet every three months, a ministerial-level meeting will be held every six months. The first ministerial-level meeting will be on January 2, 2017, in Colombo. Fishermen’s associations of the two countries will meet every six months to take their dialogue further from the November 2 meeting.