Chennai: Sri Lanka will transfer all the five fishermen, who had been sentenced to death on the charge of drug trafficking, to India, a report said quoting BJP leader Subramanian Swamy. This will come as a huge relief to the fishermen and their families. Television reports said that the deadlock was broken after Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on the issue, according to a tweet from Swamy.
"Namo and Rajapaksa spoke on the phone and agreed to process papers and transfer 5 fishermen convicted to Indian jail. I am vindicated!" the tweet read.
The case dates back to 2011 when the five fishermen set out to fish from Rameswaram and were apprehended by the Sri Lankan Navy on the charge of possessing narcotics. A Sri Lankan court had recently sentenced the five fishermen to death in the case.
The Indian fishermen were arrested by the Sri Lankan navy in 2011. The fishermen have time till November 11 to appeal at the Lankan Supreme Court. India's Ministry of External Affairs had said that the Indian government will challenge the order in the upper court.
Spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin was quoted as saying, "We will take up this matter. Judgment is passed by the lower court. We will challenge this case in the upper court."
Earlier, the executive director of Sri Lanka's Institute of Policy Studies, Saman Kelegama, had called for a bilateral settlement between New Delhi and Colombo on the issue of the death penalty given to five Indian fishermen in a drug smuggling case.
"This is a thing that is concerned with both the countries. So, we have to bilaterally settle this issue of fishermen crossing maritime border and fishing in each others' territory," said Kelegama.
"Neighbours always have problems, be it in South Asia, Latin America or wherever. So, this is a typical problem between two neighbours," he added. Kelegama said the fishermen row has created a conflict between India and Sri Lanka.
