Allegations made by Lankan Prez against Indian fishermen unconfirmed: Narayanasamy

Chennai, June 23 (ANI): Minister of State in Prime Minister's Office V. Narayanasamy on Saturday said that the accusations made by Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa against the fishermen from Tamil Nadu were unsubstantiated.

Narayanasamy on the contrary said that the Indian fishermen were being harassed, and added that they face a lot of problems.

"As far as the point that has been raised by the President of Sri Lanka that their fishermen are being attacked, but on the contrary, we found that there is proof to show that our fishermen were attacked by the Sri Lankan Navy," said Narayanasamy.

"Some of the fishermen were fired at, their boats have been damaged, their boats have been captured, our fishermen were captured and put in the Sri Lankan jail, but none of the Sri Lankan fishermen are kept by us," he added.

In his speech at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) Rio+20 at Rio de Janeiro, Rajapaksa indirectly accused Indian fishermen of encroaching on Lankan waters, denying Lankan nationals access to resources of their own country and using destructive methods of fishing such as bottom trawling.

He sought international remedies to curb such encroachments. (ANI)