Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin wants PM Narendra Modi to ask the army to exercise restraint.
Chennai:
After a fisherman from Tamil Nadu was injured by bullets fired by the Indian Navy, Chief Minister MK Stalin has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking the armed forces to act with “extreme caution”.
The Navy, which ordered the probe, said despite repeated warnings, rubber bullets were fired after a suspicious boat stopped near India’s maritime border with Sri Lanka.
The condition of the fisherman, a resident of Mayiladuthurai is stable, it is learned, he was shifted to a hospital in Ramanathapuram by helicopter.
Police officials told NDTV that the incident took place in the Bay of Mannar in the Bay of Bengal region. Initial reports said that the Indian Coast Guard had opened fire, but the force later denied it.
Extreme caution is exercised in this area as fishermen often cross the border – in part, due to the reduction in fish populations in Indian waters due to over-exploitation.
But fishermen say both sides traditionally cross territorial waters, and want both governments to respect it.
Tamil Nadu is also seeking the reclaiming of the Katchatheevu island from Sri Lanka, which India gifted to its neighbor in the 1970s. This, many say, will at least expand the permissible fishing area.
J Jayalalithaa as Chief Minister had considered the idea of a long-term lease between India and Sri Lanka to allow Indian fishermen to fish in the Lankan sea.