India News | India-SL Common Understanding is Fishermen Issue Needs to Be Handled in Humanitarian Manner: MEA

New Delhi, Jan 22 (PTI) India on Friday said its common understanding with Sri Lanka was that the fishermen issue has to be handled in a humanitarian manner, a day after New Delhi lodged a strong protest with Colombo over the death of three Indian fishermen in a collision between their vessel and a naval craft of the island nation.

India on Thursday expressed shock over the death of the Indian fishermen and lodged a strong protest with the Sri Lankan foreign ministry.

"These issues have been on the agenda of bilateral discussions between the two sides and there is a realisation at the highest level that these are humanitarian issues," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said at a media briefing.

"There is a common understanding that this matter has to be handled in a humanitarian manner. There are well-established bilateral mechanisms to deal with the issue," he said.

The fishermen who were killed in the collision hailed from Tamil Nadu. They had set out for fishing on January 18.

The incident triggered strong reaction in Tamil Nadu.

The Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday said a strong demarche was made to the Sri Lankan Acting High Commissioner here while the Indian envoy in Colombo also lodged a protest with the country's foreign ministry over the incident.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)