Chennai, (Samajweekly) Despite high-level meetings and discussions, at least 94 fishermen from Tamil Nadu were arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy in the past one year for crossing the International Marine Boundary Line (IMBL), while 14 mechanised boats were also seized.
The latest incident occurred on Sunday when the island nation’s navy arrested 10 fishermen from Akkaraipatti village in Nagapattinam who had gone to the waters on August 3.
Their mechanised boat was also seized.
Speaking on the unabated arrests, R. Selvakumar, a fishermen’s leader from Nagapattinam, told IANS: “We have been knocking at the doors of the Chief Minister, other ministers, opposition and Union government to bring out a permanent solution to this issue. Nineteen of our men are in Sri Lankan Navy’s custody in two separate incidents and we cannot leave this as a soft pedaling issue anymore. We want the government of India to act immediately and to bring about a permanent solution.”
He said that fishermen from all the coastal areas of Tamil Nadu would conduct massive protest marches in Nagapattinam soon.
Thomas Antony, another fisherman from Ramanathapuram, told IANS: “We have been hounded and harassed by the Sri Lankan Navy and its high time a strong warning is given from the government of India to the Sri Lankans. They have seized our boats and these costly boats are rusting in their custody. We are now totally lost as the loans taken for these boats remain unpaid and we are already in deep distress given the fear to venture into seas following intimdation by the Sri Lankans.”
He said that the fishermen across all the coastal towns of Tamil Nadu are in unison against the high handedness of the Sri Lankan Navy.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister M.K. Stalin has written a letter to External Affairs Minister, S. Jaishankar urging him to immediately intervene in the release of the 10 fishermen from Nagapattinam.
Sources in the fishermen groups of Tamil Nadu are gearing up for a massive agitation against this.
