Thursday, 11 September 2014 00:42
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Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa has sent another letter to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to take up with Sri Lanka the continued attacks by its Navy on Tamil Nadu fishermen and secure the release of 21 fishermen and 64 boats.
According to The Hindu newspaper, the Chief Minister has said in the letter that one mechanised fishing boat, with six fishermen who set sail from Rameswaram on Monday, was drifting because of a snag. The Sri Lankan Navy arrested the fishermen and impounded the boat on Tuesday. They were said to have been taken to Thalaimannar. Already, 15 fishermen and 63 boats were in Sri Lankan custody.
Terming such actions “inhumane” and “completely against the ethics of maritime search and rescue operations,” Jayalailthaa reiterated that the Sri Lankan strategy of keeping the boats deprived the fishermen of their source of meagre livelihood, “fuelling despondency and great unrest among” them.
With the northeast monsoon due to set in shortly, the “precariously berthed” boats would suffer an irreparable damage, if they were not released immediately, she said.
In this context, she renewed the demand for retrieving the Katchatheevu islet from Sri Lanka. She expressed the hope that the Union Government would find a “decisive and permanent” solution to the “sensitive livelihood issue” of the fishermen.
