India on Monday conveyed its "deep concern" over killing of its fishermen allegedly by Sri Lankan Navy as External Affairs Minister S M Krishna met his Lankan counterpart G L Peiris, who said the two countries were working to find a "sensible and pragmatic" solution that endures.
During the 30-minute meeting, Peiris and Krishna agreed on the early convening of the Joint Working Group to discuss the issue of fishermen.
Peiris maintained that his government's initial investigation had shown that its Navy was not involved in the death of the Indian fishermen and wanted more evidence, if any, to prove otherwise so that the matter could be looked into in that context.
India has already furnished some evidence and expressed readiness to give more depending on availability, which is expected from Tamil Nadu.
"The External Affairs Minister conveyed India's deep concern over the death of two Indian fishermen," External Affairs Ministry spokesman Vishnu Prakash told reporters after the meeting.
Both the sides agreed that force should not be resorted to, Prakash said.
Peiris, who described the issue as a human one, told Krishna that a thorough investigation was underway.
The Lankan Foreign Minister told reporters that the two countries were discussing how the issue could be dealt with in "a pragmatic way and I think a multi-pronged approach that has been conceived by two governments will yield a sensible, pragmatic solution which will endure."
Two Indian fishermen were killed allegedly by Sri Lankan Navy in international maritime area since the last one month, triggering anger in India.
Peiris said the Lankan government has been talking to its Navy and "according to the information available with us, Navy was not responsible."
He said there were satellite pictures which indicated that there was "no complicity" on the part of Sri Lankan Navy.
He, however, said that Lanka was "open to any evidence" that may be presented to it.
"For the future what is needed is stable mechanism rather than addressing these matters on ad hoc basis... After the incident has occurred, there is certainly a need for stable mechanism to address the problem and to ensure that these incidents do not recur," Peiris said.
He referred to Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao's recent visit to Colombo a week ago and said she had some fruitful discussions with the government of Sri Lanka.
The joint statement released at the end of her visit indicates that there was an agreement on modality on the way forward in which the mechanism of Joint Working Group, which has not met since 2006, could be activated again, the Lankan Foreign Minister said.
He stressed the need for addressing the issue to ensure that there is no recurrence.