Devananda continues to fish in troubled waters

Fisheries Minister Douglas Devananda, who showed a soft corner for the Indian fishermen poaching in Sri Lankan waters, this week went still further by saying that people living in the North should have a sense of gratitude to the Indians.

During a television interview he said those in the North should not forget how the Tamil Nadu Government and people received tens of thousands of Sri Lankans fleeing the North during the war.

“We should not forget how the Sri Lankans were treated as own brothers and sisters,” he said.

Mr Devananda also said that India brought pressure on the Sri Lankan Government to introduce the 13th Amendment hoping it would help to resolve the ethnic crisis.

The Minister’s remarks came in the wake of his previous comments that he was considering a licensing system for the Indian fishermen to fish in Sri Lankan waters.

The Minister was asked “when people are robbing your place do you go and give them licences?”

Minister Devananda posed a question back to the TV reporter asking; “What happens if the rouges have entered your house with heavy weapons. Do you go to fight them?”

Was the one-time gun toting Minister hinting that Sri Lanka was now under pressure to give in?