Tamil Nadu CM seeks PM Modi’s intervention for release of 23 fishermen held by Sri Lanka

On Friday, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu MK Stalin wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and sought intervention in securing the release of as many as 23 fishermen from the state who have been arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy recently and are presently remanded on the Island. 

CM Stalin in his letter to PM Modi expressed his concern regarding the repeated incidents of arrests of fishermen by the Sri Lankan authority and urged PM Modi to come to a permanent solution to the matter.

Sri Lankan Navy arrest Indian fishermen

The Sri Lankan Navy on October 11 arrested the Indian fishermen and seized two trawlers for allegedly poaching in the country’s territorial waters as reported by PTI. The Srilankan Navy arrested the fishermen off the coast of Vettilaikeni in the northern province’s point Pedro area. Reports have confirmed that the arrested fishermen are residents of Tamil Nadu's Nagapattinam.

Sources aware of the development stated that the fishermen were held by the Srilankan Navy and were questioned regarding their act of crossing the International Maritime Border following which they were taken to the Kankesanthurai Naval Camp in Sri Lanka. Fishermen community in Tamil Nadu's Nagapattinam lamented that they were already reeling under heavy losses caused owing to the COVID pandemic and such incidents are adding to their misery.

Fishermen allege Sri Lankan Navy of attacking boats 

In August, a group of fishermen from Tamil Nadu's Mandapam had accused the Srilankan Navy of attacking their boat with stones. The alleged incident took place near Kachchatheevu, an abandoned island located between Sri Lanka's Neduntheevu and India's Rameswaram in the Palk Strait between the two countries. One fisherman identified as Jayapaul from Rameswaram even suffered injuries as a result of the alleged Sri Lankan attack.

(With inputs from ANI)

(Image: @BJP4INDIA/Twitter/PTI/Representative Image)