Sushma to take up fishermen's issue during Sri Lanka visit

New Delhi: External affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will travel to Colombo on Friday on a two-day visit when she will hold talks with the top Sri Lankan leadership during which the  issues of fishermen and rights of minority Tamils are expected to figure prominently. On her second visit to Sri Lanka within a year, Swaraj and her Sri Lankan counterpart Mangala Samaraweera will co-chair the 9th Joint Commission meeting to discuss key bilateral and regional issues.

“The discussions will cover the entire gamut of our relationship pertaining to economic cooperation, trade, power and energy, technical and maritime cooperation,  social, cultural and educational matters, science and technology, defence cooperation,  health, civil aviation, tourism and people-to-people contact,” ministry of external affairs  (MEA) spokesperson Vikas Swarup said on Thursday. The joint commission was set up in 1992 as a mechanism to address issues of bilateral cooperation, he said. The last meeting of  the joint commission was held in New Delhi in January 2013.

Asked whether the fishermen issue will be discussed during Swaraj’s meeting with the Sri Lankan leaders, the spokesperson said, “Certainly. This is an ongoing issue.  We have fishermen are straying into each others water and are arrested. We want a long  term solution.”   Noting that the fishermen associations of the two sides are in regular touch with  each other, he said, “Unfortunately, so far they have not been able to reach a mutually-acceptable solution which can end this problem once and for all.” The fishermen issue continues to be a major irritant in the Indo-Lanka ties.

On the issue of rights of minority Tamil community in Lanka, Swarup said India  has always taken up this issue with the government of Sri Lanka. “We want all section of  Sri Lankan population to live in peace and harmony. And I am sure this issue will also  figure during the external affairs minister’s visit,” he added.