Chennai: Fishermen have threatened to intensify protest in Tamilnadu demanding release of their counterparts from Sri Lanka jail. They have threatened to gherao the Sri Lankan High Commission in Chennai.
More than 2,000 fishermen and their family members from coastal hamlets of Ramanathapuram district observed a day-long fast at Thangachimadam Wednesday demanding immediate and unconditional release of 68 Tamilnadu fishermen arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy for allegedly poaching in their territorial waters.
Leaders of 11 fishermen associations in Rameswaram, who gave the call for the hunger strike, were also participating in the agitation.
N J Bose, President of Rameswaram Port Mechanized Boat Fishermen Association, said the Indian government should take concrete steps to ensure the traditional fishing rights of Tamilnadu fishermen.
The Sri Lankan Navy has been continuously harassing the fishermen in the Palk Bay under the guide of cross border fishing. The fishermen associations have been demanding to form a joint working group of the fishermen from Tamilnadu and Sri Lanka to solve the issues.
The fishermen associations have also decided to resort to block the Chennai Express train at Thangachimadam on 1 January, if all the arrested fishermen were not release by 31 December.
A delegation comprising fishermen leaders and families of arrested fishermen will be going to New Delhi to meet External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Fisheries Minister Parshottam Rupala to submit a memorandum, demanding to put an end to the frequent arrest of fishermen by the Lankan Navy.
The Sri Lankan Navy has arrested 68 fishermen hailing from Rameswaram, Mandapam and Jegadhapattinam in Tamil Nadu and confiscated 10 fishing trawlers in three separate incidents on December 18, 19 and 20.
Chief Minister M K Stalin had already taken up the matter with the External Affairs Minister seeking his intervention to secure the release of the 68 fishermen.
In a letter to Dr Jaishankar, which was handed over to him by DMK MPs in New Delhi, the Chief Minister referred to the three incidents of arrest of fishermen and urged the Centre to prevail upon the Sri Lankan government through diplomatic channels to put an end to the intimidatory tactics of the Lankan Navy.
‘The alarming frequency at which these incidents of apprehension and attacks are happening warrants urgent attention. The lives and livelihoods of our fishermen must be protected when they fish in the traditional waters of Palk Bay,’ he said.