Former president Chandrika Kumaratunga has defended Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe for his comments last month, in which he justified the shooting of fishermen from Tamil Nadu.

Speaking to DNA, Ms Kumaratunga said people misunderstood his joke.

“He was joking and people misunderstood him. Media persons kept harassing him with questions. In response, he just said that if an unwanted person came into my house illegally, I had a right to shoot him for trespassing,” she said.

Mr Wickremasinghe had defended the Sri Lankan navy's shooting of fishermen, stating: "If someone tries to break into my house, I can shoot. If he gets killed...Law allows me to do that.”

After criticism from India and Tamil parties, the prime minister repeated his "joke".

"The Lankan navy has the right to shoot in any part of the country if anyone enters territorial waters, this is nothing new," Mr Wickremasinghe said a week after the initial comments.

Ms Kumaratunga in her interview also said despite the closeness of India and Sri Lanka, there was some fear amongst average Sri Lankans, pointing out that the island was "invaded 52 times by south Indian kings" in ancient times.

"India and Sri Lanka have 3,000 years of close relations. There is a lot fondness and respect for India among our people. They also have some fear as well. In ancient times, Sri Lanka was invaded by south Indian kings 52 times. Invaders often destructed our irrigation system leading to floods everywhere. And ours was an irrigation economy. People felt that Indians were not like us. The perception continued till the recent past… Indira Gandhi was very unwise...After Mrs Gandhi, every Indian government has sought to normalise relations," she said.

See full interview here.

Sri Lanka PM reiterates navy can shoot Indian fishermen in its waters (16 March 2015)

Indian parliament expresses outrage over Sri Lankan PM defending shooting of fishermen (09 March 2015)