Twenty five fishermen from Ramanathapuram district were arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy while they were fishing in four country boats near Neduntheevu, early on Monday, July 1, 2024.
The police said that the fishermen from Pamban and Dhanushkodi had set sail from Tamil Nadu’s shores on Sunday, June 30. Sri Lankan Navy personnel, who were on patrol, nabbed the four boats and arrested the fishermen on charges of poaching and took them to Kankesanthurai.
Meanwhile, scores of fishermen and their families staged a road roko in Pamban demanding the immediate release of the fishermen and their boats.
President of the Country Craft Fishermen Welfare Association, S.P. Rayappan, said that the Sri Lankan Navy usually does not nab country craft fishermen as they do not cause any damage to the marine resources. He alleged that the Sri Lankan Navy personnel had come in, two nautical miles into the Indian side of the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) and arrested the fishermen.
Revenue and police officials held talks with the protesters and pacified the protesters, following which they gave up their road blockade.
It may be recalled that Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin wrote to Union Minister for External Affairs S. Jaishankar twice last week requesting that he convene the Joint Working Group to secure the release of all the fishermen and their fishing boats from Lankan custody. This came after two recent sets of arrests: 22 fishermen were arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy on June 22, and prior to that, four fishermen of Pudukottai district were arrested on June 18, 2024.
Meanwhile, the Federation of Rameswaram Island All Fishermen Community Associations has resolved to stage a road blockade on the Pamban road bridge on July 5.
The Federation has also planned to march towards Mandapam and stage a rail roko on the evening of July 5, to press the government to find a permanent solution to the issue of frequent arrests of Tamil Nadu fishermen by Sri Lanka.
Published - July 01, 2024 02:05 pm IST
