Puducherry: National Fish Workers Forum on Wednesday sought the Centre's intervention to secure the release of 15 Indian fishermen arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy besides their seized vessels.
NFF chairman M Ilango in a release here urged the Centre to secure the release of the fishermen and the 38 fishing vessels impounded by the Lankan Navy.
He also hailed External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj's statement that Sri Lankan authorities should stay away from making "provocative statements" on the fishermen's issue which would "vitiate" the conducive atmosphere to resolve the matter which pertained to livelihood and required humanitarian approach.
He appealed to the Centre and Lankan government to fix the date for next round of talks on fishermen issue.
Prior to that the the External Affairs Minister should convene a joint meeting with representatives of fishermen, officials of Fisheries Ministry, Indian High commission in Sri Lanka and also Departments of Fisheries in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, he said.
On Sunday, Swaraj had said "There was a joint meeting between fishermen of both the countries. The proposal by our fishermen has been rejected by them. We said its a livelihood issue."
Swaraj's comments came in response to remarks by Sri Lankan Fisheries Minister Mahinda Amaraweera, who had said, "Not 65 days, we will not agree for even 65 hours" while rejecting India's proposal to allow its fishermen to catch fish in Lankan waters for 65 days a year.
