Indian Tamil party leader urges central government to get fishermen released

In the latest incident, 19 fishermen who set sail on two boats from Nagapattinam fishing base were apprehended by the Sri Lankan navy in the early hours of October 10 and taken to Kankesanthurai in Sri Lanka.

He said thousands of Indian trawlers were engaging in bottom trawling, a practice Sri Lanka has outlawed.

Last year, the breach of Sri Lanka’s maritime boundaries by Indian fishermen was evident in Satellite images obtained by authorities.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa today urged the Prime Minister to take up the arrest of the state’s fishermen at a high political level with Sri Lanka and sought immediate release of 54 fishermen and their 34 boats, including 19 who were apprehended yesterday.

A joint operation by the Coast Guard and the Navy led to these arrests.

Reiterating that the State’s fishermen were being denied their right to fishing in their traditional waters of Palk Bay, she said the denial of right and prolonged incarceration caused misery and frustration among the fishermen.

Meanwhile, JVP MP Vjitha Herath noted that the government is elected to protect the sovereignty of the countrym and the responsibility of the elected government is to ensure the that the sovereignty of the nation is protected. Noor Mohamed Alam, president of the Mannar District Fishermen’s Cooperative Society Union, said it was regrettable that the Northern Provincial Council did not adopt a resolution on the issue that affected the fishermen of the area even though it adopted motions on a number of other subjects. And they as the Tamil National Alliance have taken this up with the government.