Tamil Nadu CM raises issue over "attacks" on Tamil fishermen by Sri Lankan nationals
Aug 22, 2023
Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], August 22 : Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Tuesday wrote an official letter to Union Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar seeking an immediate intervention in the matter of attacks on Tamil Fishermen by Sri Lankan nationals.
Tamil Nadu CM wrote, “I want to bring to your attention an issue of grave concern that demands immediate intervention. Recent reports have highlighted an increased number of attacks on Tamil Fishermen by Sri Lankan nationals”.
He added that on August 21, nine instances were reported that cause serious harm to their morale and impact livelihood severely.
Tamil Nadu CM while referring to the incident of an Indian fisherman who was physically harmed by the Sri Lankan nationals and the injured had to undergo treatment stressed that these incidents are jeopardising the livelihoods of fishermen.
Chief Minister Stalin also requested the External Affairs minister to request the Sri Lankan authorities to take swift and decisive action to identify and bring the perpetrators of these attacks to justice and utilise diplomatic channels to engage with the Sri Lankan government and express
Earlier, Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin had slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Centre alleging that "attacks on Tamil Nadu fishermen have continued under the Modi government".
He further said that the BJP government is a "weak government".
Meanwhile, 15 fishermen from the Rameshwaram district, who were released from Sri Lankan prison, were welcomed by BJP on their arrival in Chennai on Thursday.
They were arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy Police on July 8 for allegedly crossing the border and fishing in the area that falls under Sri Lankan jurisdiction.
Following the arrest, the fishermen were produced before the court and were later remanded to judicial custody.
Their case came up for hearing in the Oorkavalthurai court on July 21, and the judge ordered the release of all 15 fishermen.
Notably, their release came days after Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe's official visit to India. During his visit, Sri Lankan President also had a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Palk Strait, which is a narrow strip of water separating Tamil Nadu from Sri Lanka, is a rich fishing ground for fishermen from both countries and because of that fishermen keep on going to the area and end up entering Sri Lankan water.
