India raises stone-pelting on Indian fishermen with Sri Lanka

India Monday said it has raised the issue of stone-pelting on Indian fishing boats in Sri Lankan waters.

“We have seen reports of incidents involving stone pelting of some Indian fishing boats in Sri Lankan waters. We have taken up the matter with the Sri Lankan authorities," India's external affairs ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said here in response to a media query.

Separately, Akbaruddin said, it is also understood that two Indian fishing boats, which were stranded off the coast of Sri Lanka due to engine trouble, were assisted by the Sri Lankan authorities and taken to Talaimannar on the coast of Sri Lanka.

Officials of India's consulate general in Jaffna and the high commission in Colombo, who have been in touch with the nine fishermen on board these boats, have confirmed that the fishermen and their boats are expected to return to India Monday, he said.

"The Sri Lanka Navy have escorted them to the International Maritime Boundary Line and handed them over to the Indian Coast Guard at 4 p.m.,” he added.