Delegates to urge early release of fishermen jailed in South India
[20 Nov 2000]

National Fisheries Solidarity (NSF), representing the fishing community will meet the Fisheries Minister Mahinda Rajapakshe to seek a way to release 150 Sri Lankan fishermen jailed in India without any further delay.

Earlier efforts made in this connection have failed. The delegations that met the relevant Indian authorities during the last month "did not make much progress," a spokesman for NSF said.

Those fishermen had picked up Indian authorities allegedly crossing into Indian waters. Some of them have been in jail for as long as two years.

Sri Lanka and India must arrive at some kind of agreement on this issue, the NFS spokesperson told. Either the Sri Lankan government should discourage deep sea fishing or must arrive at a consensus with the Indian government which will enable cases involving Sri Lankan fishermen to be heard within a specified, he further added.

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