Hours after 15 fishermen from the State were arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy in separate incidents while fishing in the Palk Bay, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking to secure their release.
While 11 fishermen in two mechanised boats from Rameswaram fishing base in Ramanathapuram district were arrested in the late hours of Wednesday and taken to Thalaimannar, another four fishermen from Kottaipattinam of Pudukottai district were apprehended by the Sri Lankan Navy in the early hours of Thursday and were later taken to Kankesanthurai in Sri Lanka.
Letter to Modi
In her letter to Mr. Modi, the Chief Minister stated “the fishermen were fishing in the Palk Bay, which historically is their traditional fishing waters” and the issue over the validity of the Indo-Sri Lankan agreements of 1974 and 1976 ceding the islet of Katchatheevu to Sri Lanka was pending before the Supreme Court of India.
‘Highly disheartening’
Noting that it was highly disheartening that the only means of livelihood of several fishermen has been left without care and exposed to adverse weather conditions, she said it was “imperative that the issue of the release of these boats is taken up with the highest levels of the Sri Lankan administration and the immediate release of these boats is ensured.”
Immediate action
sought
She further requested that concerned officials are immediately directed to take immediate action through diplomatic channels to secure the release of 29 fishermen and 53 fishing boats in total, which were presently in Sri Lankan custody.
