Chennai, Feb 22 (BPNS)
Twenty-one fishermen from Tamil Nadu and Karaikkal who were arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy for crossing the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) on January 31 were ordered to be released by a court in Point Pedro in Sri Lanka. The fishermen will be repatriated to India in a week after taking all Covid safety measures. The Sri Lankan authorities will hand over the fishermen to the Indian consulate and send them back to India.
It may be noted that 21 Indian fishermen from Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu and Karaikkal in Puducherry had gone fishing on January 31 in two fishing boats. 12 were in one boat and 9 in another boat. The Sri Lankan navy took them into custody while they were fishing at Kodiyakarai that night itself.
The fishermen were taken to a court in Point Pedro and remanded in judicial custody till February 7 and later extended till February 21 and the trawlers were taken into custody at the Myllidi fishing harbour in Jaffna district.
The Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources in Sri Lanka impounded the two boats and according to the law of the island nation, the boats are unlikely to be released to the fishers.
29 fishermen from Ramanathapuram who were arrested in three separate incidents are still languishing in Sri Lankan jail and the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, M.K. Stalin has already sent a letter to the Union External affairs minister, S. Jaishankar to intervene for their immediate release.
The fishermen associations of Tamil Nadu have made frenetic appeals to both the Government of Tamil Nadu and Government of India to take up with the highest authorities in Sri Lanka against the arrest of Indian fishermen on charges of crossing the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL).
S. Jesudasan, leader of Ramanathapuram fishermen association while speaking to BPNS said, “ The fishermen and their families are living in constant fear of being arrested by the Sri Lankan navy for even unintentional crossing of the IMBL. With the boats being confiscated, we have lost our source for livelihood and these fiber boats are very costly. I request the Government of India to intervene in the matter and settle this problem once and for all that is creating major psychological, financial, and physical issues to fishermen and their families.
