New Delhi: In good news for the five Indian fishermen serving a death sentence in the Sri Lankan jail, President Mahinda Rajapaksa has agreed to pardon and release them without any conditions within two or three days.
The decision comes days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to the Sri Lankan President where they agreed to transfer the fishermen to an Indian jail.
Sri Lankan MP and Deputy Minister of Telecommunication and Information Technology Prabha Ganesan has saod that he was asked to convey to the Indian High Commission in Sri Lanka that the President was willing to pardon and release the five fishermen.
"Was asked to inform the Indian high commission to withdraw/cancel their appeal against the death sentence as the case would otherwise drag out for months," he said.
On behalf of the Indian fishermen, an appeal on was filed against the death sentence in the court of appeals by the lawyer engaged by the Indian high commission. The Indian High Commission has approached some of the best legal brains of Sri Lanka to have a look at it and they are examining what would be the best avenue to ensure that those five fisherman can be brought back home," the spokesperson of the Indian High Commission in Colombo had said.
However, Sri Lanka has maintained that it is not scared of the appeal.
Five Indian are on death row for allegedly smuggling drugs. The case dates back to 2011 when the five fishermen set out to fish from Rameswaram and were apprehended by the Sri Lankan Navy on the charge of possessing narcotics.
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