Jayalalithaa asks Indian PM to ensure release of fishermen

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking his personal intervention for release of four Indian fishermen arrested by Sri Lankan navy, besides release of 103 boats.

In the latest incident, four fishermen in a mechanised fishing boat, who had set sail from Jegathapattinam fishing base in Pudukkottai district, had been arrested by the Lankan Navy on Monday, the Chief Minister said in her letter dated August 9, which was released today.

This recent act of the Sri Lankan Navy has again created anxiety and unrest in the minds of the fishermen, she said.

A “firm, clear, unequivocal and unambiguous” message should be sent out by Indian government to Sri Lanka to ensure that these arrests are stopped and “the livelihood of the poor and innocent fishermen from Tamil Nadu who are engaged in fishing in their traditional waters is protected,” she said.

Colombo’s strategy of not releasing the boats was causing “great frustration amongst” the fishermen of Tamil Nadu, she added.

-PTI
-Agencies