On Sunday, 55 fishermen from Tamil Nadu were arrested and 8 boats were seized by Sri Lankan Navy personnel, following which Chief Minister MK Stalin took up the matter with the Center for their release and all 73 boats caught so far by the neighboring country. took. Stalin spoke to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar over phone and requested him to take immediate steps to free over 50 fishermen and their eight boats from Sri Lanka.
“The Union Minister assured of immediate action,” an official release said. Stalin wrote to Jaishankar raising the issue of constant harassment of fishermen at the hands of Sri Lankan Navy personnel. The CM urged action, saying that now a total of 73 boats, including the 8 seized ones, are with the Sri Lankan authorities.
Soon after the arrest of 43 fishermen from Rameswaram and the seizure of six boats, 12 other fishermen from Mandapam area were also taken into custody, the official said here.
Two boats of fishermen from Mandapam were also seized. Demanding his immediate release, the fishermen’s union here said it would hold a protest on Monday and also announced to launch an ‘indefinite strike’.
Stalin, in a letter to Jaishankar, said despite the state government taking up the issue with the central government, Stalin was saddened by the continuing arrest and harassment of Tamil Nadu fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy.
“I would also like to mention that in the year 2021 itself, there were 19 incidents of capture and attack of fishermen from Tamil Nadu,” the Chief Minister said. Although the fishermen were released, the fishing boats, their source of livelihood, are still in custody by the island nation’s authorities.
“In addition, during the same period, there were two incidents of attacks and five fishermen were killed,” Stalin said. The repeated attempts by the Sri Lankan Navy to deter Indian fishermen from exercising their traditional fishing rights through ‘intimidation tactics’ should not be allowed to continue, he said.
Urging for concrete action by the Center to address the issue of this ‘excitement’, he called for the intervention of the External Affairs Minister for the immediate release of 55 fishermen and 73 fishing boats (including those seized in past incidents) from Sri Lanka. demanded.
The fishermen had left here in over 500 boats and were fishing off Katchatheevu island on December 18, when 43 of them were arrested and six boats confiscated early Sunday, a fisheries department official said. After his arrest, he was taken to the Kangesanthurai camp, a leader of the fishermen’s union and officials said. Ramanathapuram MP K Navas Kani spoke to the Union Ministers and urged them to take immediate steps for the release of the fishermen and their boats.
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