Sri Lanka Navy killing of an Indian fisherman on Saturday night

Sri Lanka Navy categorically and unequivocally denies the allegations made by certain indiscriminate sections of media of Sri Lanka Navy’s involvement in the killing of an Indian fisherman on Saturday night.
Sri Lanka Navy exercises utmost care not to cross the International Maritime Boundary Line between Sri Lankan and Indian territorial waters while conducting patrolling and maritime surveillance to prevent LTTE arms smuggling and infiltration across the Gulf of Mannar and the Polk Bay.
Sri Lanka Navy maintains a cordial relationship with the Indian Navy and its Coast Guard in prevention of terrorist activities within their respective territories.
Attention is drawn on the recent incident where Sri Lanka Navy did not open retaliatory fire when the persons yet to be identified on board two Indian fishing trawlers fired on one of SLN fibre glass boats in the seas off Thalaimannar on the 4th February 2008. SLN boats did not retaliate in order to avoid other Indian fishing boats being hit in the cross fire. This was only one occasion of many where Sri Lanka Navy exercised utmost restrain not to fall prey to the LTTE’s ploy of using Indian fishing boats in creating a rift between the two countries.
LTTE has a track record of highjacking Indian fishing trawlers and boats and killing its occupants indiscriminately. The Kanyakumari massacre and the Sri Krishna incident bear ample testimony to this fact. LTTE sea tigers massacred five Tamil Nadu fishermen off the Kanyakumari coast in March 2007. They seized the Indian fishing trawler “Sri Krishna” which was subsequently destroyed by the Maldivian Defence Forces in the Maldivian waters while being used by the LTTE operatives for arms smuggling.