Sri Lanka's President vows to stop Tamil Nadu fishermen, assures steps to return Tamil land taken by govt
New Indian ExpressJAFFNA: Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who addressed his first public meeting in Jaffna since coming to office in September, on Sunday took a firm stance against Indian fishermen “illegally” fishing in Sri Lankan waters. Dissanayake was in the city a day before the campaign for the Sri Lankan parliamentary elections, scheduled for Thursday, comes to an end to canvas votes for his Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna -led National People’s Power alliance. His speech comes in the backdrop of the arrest of 23 fishermen from Rameswaram and the detention of three Indian trawlers by the Sri Lankan Navy on Sunday for illegally fishing in Lankan waters. In a letter to the Union government on October 23, urging its intervention in the release of the fishermen, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin had pointed out that 128 fishermen and 199 boats were in Sri Lankan custody.