Condemning the repeated harassment of Tamil fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa has said that the Centre’s approach to the issue was “meek and passive.”
Seeking the Prime Minister’s immediate intervention in the issue, Ms. Jayalalithaa, in a letter, said the Centre “cannot continue to remain a passive spectator in the face of highhanded belligerence of the Sri Lankan Navy.”
The Chief Minister pointed out that in two separate incidents on November 5, as many as 30 fishermen and seven boats from Tamil Nadu had been unlawfully abducted by the Sri Lankan Navy. She also sought to remind the Prime Minister that 56 fishermen who were apprehended and remanded on earlier occasions were still languishing in Sri Lankan jails and 35 fishing boats still in custody of Sri Lankan authorities.
Ms. Jayalalithaa sought the Prime Minister’s intervention in securing the immediate release of 86 fishermen and 42 fishing boats in Sri Lankan custody.
“In spite of my repeated representations to you on this critical livelihood issue of the fishermen of Tamil Nadu, the harassment and arrest of these fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy continues unquestioned and unabated. The Sri Lankan Navy appears emboldened to act in a highhanded and repressive manner largely because of the Union government’s meek and passive approach to this serious issue,” the Chief Minister said.