By P.K. Balachandran, IANS
Colombo : In an unprecedented development, a fishing boat believed to be Indian fired rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) on Sri Lankan naval boats damaging one vessel, a naval spokesperson said Tuesday.
Navy spokesperson Commodore D.K.P. Dassanayake said Tuesday that the incident occurred at about 6.30 p.m. Monday when two of the 400-odd Indian trawlers off Talaimannar in northwest Sri Lanka signalled for help.
“But when our patrol boats went near them, one of the Indian boats opened fire. The noise was so huge that we think they were RPGs. One of our boats was damaged,” he said.
“Since it was dark and there were 400 Indian boats in the vicinity, we could neither fire back nor investigate,” Dassanayake told IANS.
“And soon enough, we found that the Indian boats poaching in our waters were getting back to the Indian side of the maritime boundary line.” The Indian high commission in Colombo was informed about the incident.
“The saddest part is that from now on, we cannot even answer calls for assistance from the Indian boats, because we could be fired upon. Till now, we have been boarding vessels which poach in our waters, taking them into custody, and subsequently releasing them,” Dassanayake said.
“Something must be done immediately by India to stop its fishermen from poaching in Sri Lankan waters,” he urged.
Recently, the Sri Lankan navy had planted mines in the Palk Strait, the narrow sea dividing India and Sri Lanka, to keep the Indian fishing boats away. But apparently these are not acting as deterrents.
According to an independent military source, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has been using Indian fishermen as a cover to smuggle in petrol, diesel and other dual-purpose material to Sri Lanka from southern India.
“The LTTE is believed to be paying (Sri Lankan) Rs.900 to 1,000 (about $10) for a litre of petrol, which is good money for poor Indian fishermen,” the source said.
Political circles here suspect that the LTTE, desperately wanting to whip up support for itself in Tamil Nadu, may be trying to get Indian Tamil fishermen killed by engineering a conflict with the Sri Lankan navy in the Palk Strait.
The idea behind shooting at the Sri Lankan navy Monday might have been to get the Sri Lankans to fire back and kill some Indian fishermen, which could then be used to whip up pro-LTTE and anti-Colombo feelings in Tamil Nadu.
In recent times, the Sri Lankan navy has been careful not to physically harm intruding Indian fishermen. The Indian government had advised Colombo not to shoot but arrest and then let off the offenders.
India’s plea has been that Indian fishermen cannot be blamed for straying into Sri Lankan waters in the Palk Strait because it is very narrow (about 30 km) and the sea here has been open to them since time immemorial.
In fact, the maritime boundary agreement between the two countries signed in the mid-1970s recognises the Indian fishermen’s traditional fishing rights around Kachchativu island, midway between India and Sri Lanka in the Palk Strait.
But now that there has been firing from the “Indian fishermen”, who some fear may well be Tamil Tigers in disguise, New Delhi and Colombo might have to work out new approaches to the problem, a Sri Lankan military source said.