National Fish Workers Forum today took strong exception to Sri Lanka Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe's controversial statement that intruding Indian fishermen may be shot by the island nation's Navy.
"We condemn the Lankan Prime Minister's statement, particularly when steps are on to find a negotiated settlement of the fishermen's issues", NFF Chairman M Ilango said in a release here.
He said a meeting of NFF office bearers at Mangalore yesterday had dubbed the statement as violative of the basic human rights advocated by the United Rights Council of Human Rights.
Wickramasinghe had alleged that Indian fishermen were taking away the livelihood of Northern Lanka fishermen.
"If someone tries to break into my house, I can shoot. If he gets killed...Law allows me to do that," he had told Tamil Thanthi TV.
Ilango alleged that the NDA government at the Centre had failed to implement its poll promise of creating a separate Fisheries Ministry.
He also criticised the slashing of allocations for fisheries in the Union Budget.
Ilango said NFF would stage a 'Parliament march' on April 22 to push its charter of demands.
