Chennai: Chief Minister M K Stalin urged Union External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to ‘strongly take up the matter with the Sri Lankan Government’ for the immediate release of all the fishermen and their fishing boat apprehended in two back-to-back incidents during the Pongal season.
‘With a sense of deep anguish, I would like to draw your attention to the repeated apprehensions of fishermen and their fishing boats by the Sri Lankan Navy,’ Stalin said in his letter to Jaishankar on Wednesday.
Ten fishermen who ventured into the sea on January 13 from Nagapattinam Fishing Harbour were apprehended on January 15 along with their mechanized fishing boat bearing Registration No.IND-TN-06-MM-870 and 18 fishermen from Pamban, Ramanathapuram, along with their two mechanized boats bearing Registration Numbers IND-TN-10-MM-2673 and IND-TN-10-MM-2677 were apprehended on January 16, he said.
‘These apprehensions have created an insecure atmosphere among the fishing community who are solely dependent on fishing for their livelihoods. As there appears to be no respite in the arrests it is important to impress upon Sri Lanka to refrain from these arbitrary arrests and detentions of boats and to set a clear timeline to release all the boats under their custody, Stalin said.
Reacting to the arrests of 28 fishermen in 24 hours in the Bay of Bengal, PMK president Anbumani Ramadoss said the incidents had occurred within the Indian waters and that they were a clear case of violation by the Sri Lankan Navy.
The Union Government should not be a silent spectator to such violations that had happened during Pongal, Anbumani Ramadoss said. The fishermen from Tamil Nadu were not seeking rights to fish in Sri Lankan waters but only wanted to continue to fish in their own traditional fishing grounds, he said.
Repeated arrests of Tamil Nadu fishermen not only affected the livelihood of their families but also had an adverse impact on the economy of the nation, he said, adding that the Union Government should deal with the issue bearing that in mind.
