"Government of India is deeply concerned at the killing of an Indian fisherman. Our High Commissioner to Sri Lanka has taken up the matter with the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan Navy has promised a full and thorough investigation," said the Indian Ministry of External Affairs.
Colombo denied the "unsubstantiated allegation" and added, "Since there is an allegation of a shooting incident, Sri Lanka Navy is carrying out a comprehensive investigation to find out the veracity of this alleged incident."
The incident took place at 9.30 pm (Indian Standard Time) on Monday when it is alleged the Sri Lankan naval patrol started heavy firing on fishermen boat along Lankan waters. It is not clear if these fishermen had entered Lankan territory. The local administration of Tamil Nadu referred to the incident as "cold blooded, inhuman, horrific and illegal barbaric killing of a young Indian fisherman from Tamil Nadu".
"Continuing turmoil and agony at the civic level in both countries, arising from the woes of fishermen, will be an irritant in bilateral relations and unnecessarily generate negative fallouts in the domestic environment of both India and Sri Lanka," said Gautam Sen, who has served in the Indian High Commission in Colombo.
Another contentious point between the countries is bottom trawling by Indian fishermen, banned under international fishing regime. Last month, Sri Lanka reiterated that the practice of bottom trawling needs to end at the earliest. The Indian side assured bottom trawling would be phased out in a time-bound manner.
