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Stalin urges Jaishankar to act for release of 60 fishermen held in Lanka
This is the second time that Stalin has reached out to Jaishankar in the past two days over the issue.
Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin on Tuesday sought external affairs minister S Jaishankar’s immediate intervention to secure release of 68 fishermen and 75 boats from Sri Lankan Navy and Coast Guard’s custody.
This is the second time that Stalin has reached out to Jaishankar in the past two days over the issue. “I had written to you about the unfortunate incidents involving the Sri Lankan Navy and our fishermen a couple of days ago,” Stalin’s letter on Tuesday read. “Yet again, there has been an incident of apprehension of fishermen, this time by Sri Lankan Coast Guard.”
He said two boats with 13 fishermen aboard who set sail from Tamil Nadu’s Pudukkottai district have been apprehended by the Lankan coast guard. “The alarming frequency at which these incidents of apprehension and attacks are happening warrant urgent attention. Lives and livelihood of our fishermen must be protected when they fish in the traditional waters of Palk Bay,” the chief minister said.
A copy of Stalin’s letter was handed over to Jaishankar in Delhi by DMK MPs led by parliamentary party leader TR Baalu. Tamil Nadu has requested the Indian government to use diplomatic channels with the Lankan government to put an end to what the state describes as “intimidatory tactics” of the island nation.
Union minister of state for fisheries and former president of Tamil Nadu’s BJP unit L Murugan also urged Jaishankar for immediate release of these fishermen.
Earlier on Sunday, Stalin had written to Jaishankar about two incidents of fishermen being detained by the Sri Lankan Navy in a span of 24 hours. In one episode on December 12, as many as 43 fishermen from Rameswaram in Ramanathapuram District who were fishing in the waters of Palk Bay, in six mechanized fishing boats were arrested and taken to Mylatti, a naval base in Sri Lanka.
On December 19, 12 fishermen in two mechanized fishing boats from Mandapam in Ramanathapuram district were arrested and taken to Kalpatti Naval base in Lanka. “I am saddened to point out that the incidents of arrest and harassment of Tamil Nadu fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy continue with alarming frequency despite several letters sent by the Government of Tamil Nadu,” Stalin had said on Sunday.
“I would also like to point out that, in the year 2021 itself there were 19 incidents of apprehension and attack of Tamil Nadu fishermen. Though the fishermen were released, fishing boats, the source of livelihood are still detained by Sri Lankan authorities. Further, during the same period, there were two instances of attacks and five fishermen were killed.”
