NEW DELHI: Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe left for Colombo on Saturday after a three-day official visit to Delhi, during which he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior Indian officials. Just before his trip, Indian officials played down reports that Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena had told his cabinet during a meeting on Tuesday that an Indian intelligence agency was plotting to kill him.
This was vehemently denied by Colombo and by Sirisena, who called up Modi to explain that his words had been taken out of context. On Friday, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami had written to Modi seeking his intervention to free eight fishermen from Thoothukudi district picked up by the Sri Lankan Navy on August 21 for allegedly fishing in Sri Lankan waters, as well as eight others held earlier on similar charges.
The fishermen were later convicted by a Sri Lankan court for fishing in Lankan territory and reportedly fined around Rs 25 lakh per head. Sources said the issue was raised during Saturday’s discussion with Modi, who explained India was encouraging the fishermen to undertake deep sea trawling away from Sri Lankan waters, and thanked the Sri Lankan forces for abjuring the use of force until then.
Most fishermen held by the Sri Lankan Navy are eventually freed by Colombo as goodwill gestures, the source explained. Wickremesinghe, accompanied by his wife Prof Maithree and several officials, arrived in Delhi on Thursday evening.
Lankan PM meets Sushma, Doval
Wickremesinghe met External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval besides Prime Minister Modi. Apart from the fishermen issue, ways to ramp up the relationship, the slew of Indian projects awaiting clearance by Colombo, regional security and ways to combat terrorism were discussed