Transfer of missing Indian fisherman’s relatives:

Immigration laws not violated

Sandasen Marasinghe

The Sri Lanka Navy said yesterday that Indian or Sri Lankan governments have not violated immigration laws during the transfer of the relatives of a missing Indian fisherman on April 9, whose remains were found in the Delft Island.

Navy Spokesman Commander Kosala Warnakulasooriya told the Daily News that everything was done by the Sri Lanka Navy in keeping with the past practice of handling the issues related to fishermen and as a gesture of goodwill, but certain groups and some sections of the media attempted to say that immigration laws were violated during the incident.

He said that the Sri Lanka Navy on receiving information from the Indian High Commission in Colombo that an Indian fishing trawler that had sailed from Rameshwaram on April 2, 2011 had gone missing, launched a search and rescue operation.

The body found on April 6 off Delft Island was handed over to Kayts Police. As there was suspicion that the body could be of a member of the missing Indian trawler, the Indian authorities were informed.

As there was a requirement for relatives to identify the body and considering the urgency, both governments agreed to transfer the relatives of the crew members of the missing trawler by sea.

The Sri Lanka Navy took over six relatives of the crew from the Indian Coast Guard vessel on April 9 at the International Maritime Boundary Line and transferred them to Jaffna also in liaison with the Sri Lanka Police and the Consulate of India in Jaffna, to facilitate the identification of the body.The Indian Coast Guard vessel did not enter the Sri Lankan waters. The arrangements by the Sri Lankan authorities were made as a humanitarian gesture, the spokesman said.

The Sri Lanka Navy said that this incident of humanitarian assistance arranged by both governments should not have been given the interpretation of a case of violating the country’s immigration laws.