Chief Minister M K Stalin urged Union External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to ‘strongly take up the matter with the Sri Lankan Government’ for the immediate release of all the fishermen and their fishing boat apprehended in two back-to-back incidents during the Pongal season.
‘With a sense of deep anguish, I would like to draw your attention to the repeated apprehensions of fishermen and their fishing boats by the Sri Lankan Navy,’ Stalin said in his letter to Jaishankar on Wednesday.
Ten fishermen who ventured into the sea on January 13 from Nagapattinam Fishing Harbour were apprehended on January 15 along with their mechanized fishing boat bearing Registration No.IND-TN-06-MM-870 and 18 fishermen from Pamban, Ramanathapuram, along with their two mechanized boats bearing Registration Numbers IND-TN-10-MM-2673 and IND-TN-10-MM-2677 were apprehended on January 16, he said.
‘These apprehensions have created an insecure atmosphere among the fishing community who are solely dependent on fishing for their livelihoods. As there appears to be no respite in the arrests it is important to impress upon Sri Lanka to refrain from these arbitrary arrests and detentions of boats and to set a clear timeline to release all the boats under their custody, Stalin said.