More than 2,500 fishermen of Rameswaram, including around 1,000 women, on Friday observed a day's fast at Thangatchimadam, demanding a White Paper from the Centre and Sri Lankan government on the suspicious death of four fishermen in Sri Lankan waters in the second week of April.
U. Arulanandam, Tamil Nadu's representative in the Alliance for the Release of Innocent Fishermen (ARIF), presided over the agitation carried out under the auspices of the Rameswaram Island All Fishermen Associations' Federation.
Representatives from Nagapattinam, Pudukottai, Tuticorin and other districts also participated. Traders and merchants of Thangatchimadam showed their solidarity with the fishermen by putting up the shutters for a day.
Many speakers alleged that Victus, Marimuthu, John Paul and Antony Raj were “brutally killed” in Sri Lankan waters on a day when India registered its victory over Sri Lanka in the World Cup final. Wounds were noted on the bodies, raising suspicion that they were tortured.
Coming down heavily on State and Central governments, the protestors accused them of being indifferent to the light of Tamil Nadu fishermen for long. The fishermen were being targeted even two years after the end of war in Sri Lanka.
The attacks had created a fear psychosis among the fishermen, who depended on “traditional areas” of fishing in Palk Strait. Most of the incidents violated the basic tenets of human rights.
The fishermen also demanded that the State and Central governments create a “conducive atmosphere” in the sea before they resume fishing in the last week of May after the end of 45-day ban on fishing.
