Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Thursday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to renew her call that the Centre send out a “firm, clear, unequivocal and unambiguous message” to the Sri Lankan government that “hostile acts against Indian fishermen” would not be tolerated and should cease forthwith.
Alluding to Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa’s interview to The Hindu, published on Thursday, the Chief Minister, referred to the recent trend of the Sri Lankan authorities impounding fishing boats even while releasing the fishermen and said “the impulse for such a cruel and ruthless strategy against Tamil Nadu fishermen appears to flow from the very top [of the Sri Lankan govern-ment]. This is apparent from an interview given to an Indian newspaper by the Sri Lankan Presi-dent and reported today (11.9.2014) in which he is quoted as saying that the impounded boats would not be released.”
