TNA to raise fishermen issue with Sushma Swaraj

March 07, 2015 01:34 am | Updated November 26, 2021 10:26 pm IST - COLOMBO

Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj with Sri Lankan Deputy Foreign Minister Ajith P. Perera (left), upon her arrival at the Bandaranaike International Airport in Katunayake on Friday.AFP PHOTO

Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj with Sri Lankan Deputy Foreign Minister Ajith P. Perera (left), upon her arrival at the Bandaranaike International Airport in Katunayake on Friday.AFP PHOTO

Members of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) will raise the concerns of northern Sri Lankan fishermen at the party’s meeting with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Saturday.

“The Indian Foreign Minister is coming here as a forerunner to Prime Minister Modi, who will visit Sri Lanka later this month. One of the key issues we want to take up with her is the northern fishermen’s concerns,” TNA parliamentarian M.A. Sumanthiran told The Hindu on Friday.

Ms. Swaraj arrived here on Friday evening, and called on President Maithripala Sirisena. She will also hold meetings with top political leaders. Mr. Modi will be in the country on March 13 and 14.

Mr. Sumanthiran, who recently had a discussion with fisher leaders in Jaffna, said: “They [fisher leaders] have also requested for an opportunity to meet Prime Minister Modi when he is Jaffna to hand over their petition. We will be conveying these to the Indian Foreign Minister.”

Fishermen, he said, voiced serious concern about the increasing number of Indian trawlers along the northern coast. Their association leaders pointed to the Sri Lankan Navy’s “inaction” against “poaching Indian fishermen” of late. After repeated complaints from them, the Navy recently apprehended 86 Indian fishermen and detained 10 trawlers.

According to Emiliyan Pillai, president of the Federation of Jaffna District Fishermen Associations, fisher leaders briefed the TNA member about the damage caused by Indian trawlers to their marine resources. “We hope we have an opportunity to convey our concerns to the visiting Indian Prime Minister,” he told The Hindu .

The TNA, in its meeting with Ms. Swaraj, will also discuss matters pertaining to the pending political solution to the island’s Tamils, the release of land to its original owners in the north and east, and of political prisoners detained without charges, sources said.

Shift in TNA’s stance?

In what appears to a shift in the TNA’s position with regard to the Palk Bay conflict facing fishermen of India and Sri Lanka, its top leaders have begun raising the issue within Sri Lanka and with India. Until now, the Alliance — the main party representing the island’s northern Tamils — seemed hesitant to take a strong position, perhaps fearing confrontation with Tamil Nadu where the Indian trawlers reportedly originate.

More recently after the Narendra Modi government took charge, New Delhi publicly acknowledged poaching by Indian trawlers when Ms. Swaraj urged fishermen to stay on the Indian side of the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL).

However, the number of Indian trawlers spotted along the northern coast are only increasing, observe fishermen in the Northern Province.

Talks after March 15

T. Ramakrishnan writes from Chennai

The Tamil Nadu government has suggested to the Centre that talks between fishermen of Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka be held on any day after March 15.

This was in response to the Centre’s communication, seeking the State government’s convenience for the talks to be held on March 11. About a month ago, the State government wrote to the Union government to have the talks on March 5.

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