Wigneswaran Hits Out At Ranil Wickremesinghe

After Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Jaffna, Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran hit out at Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, for his controversial comments on shooting trespassing Indian fishermen.

Talking to CNN-IBN, CV Wigneswaran said, "That is not the way for a head of government to say to a friendly country. As far as the fishermen are concerned, all deep sea trawlers must be sent to Bay of Bengal or the Arabian Sea."

"The solution is to prohibit trawlers in the Palk Strait Area and have a Palk Strait management committee and they should be in a position to see that none of these things are happening and that they go to deep sea," Vigneswaran added.

In a recent interview, Wickremesinghe stated that Indian fishermen were taking away the livelihood of Northern Lanka fishermen. "If someone tries to break into my house, I can shoot. If he gets killed, law allows me to do that," he said.

As many as 86 Indian fishermen were arrested and their 10 fishing boats seized by the Sri Lanka Navy for allegedly poaching in the country's waters in February.

Modi on Saturday night returned home after wrapping up his five-day three- nation tour.

During his Sri Lanka visit, the first by an Indian PM in almost 28 years, Modi reached out to the country, saying the security of the two nations is "indivisible" and favoured a life of equality, justice and dignity for Tamils in its "new journey" of peace and reconciliation.

He also addressed the Sri Lankan Parliament and held talks with top Lankan leadership, including President Maithripala Sirisena, during his visit.
(With inputs from CNN-IBN)