Karuna Condemns Lankan PM's Remarks on Indian Fishermen

Slamming Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe for his remarks that Indian fishermen maybe shot if they intruded into Lankan waters, DMK today said it"amounted to a slap" on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's face ahead of his tour to the island nation, a report in the Indian Outlook said.

"It is not proper for the Lankan Prime Minister to give an interview amounting to a slap on the Indian Prime Minister's face ahead of his goodwill tour," DMK President M Karunanidhi was quoted as saying.

He was responding to the Lankan Prime Minister's interview to a Tamil TV channel about killing of Indian fishermen by Lankan navy where he had said "If someone tries to break into my house, I can shoot. If he gets killed...Law allows me to do that."

Condemning the statement, Karunanidhi was quoted as saying such comments would not help address the issue but further complicate it.

However, it was 'heartening' to see External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj insist that the issue should be dealt in a humanitarian way and not legally, he said.

Karunanidhi was quoted as saying it was not possible for fishermen in mid-seas to identify the international boundary and took exception to Wickramasinghe's remarks in which he compared them to thieves breaking into a house since fishing was their source of livelihood and wondered if law allowed gunning them down.