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Sri Lankan fishermen plan to hold protest rally - Douglas
Feb 25, 201312:06 AM
Fishermen in Sri Lanka would stage a rally to protest against their Indian counterparts allegedly snapping their fishing nets and causing inconvenience to them, Minister Douglas Devananda today said.
Sri Lankan fisherman have planned to hold a rally soon in this regard, he said on the sidelines of the St Antony’s Church festival, which ended today at Katchatheevu, an islet in the Palk Straits ceded to Sri Lanka by India in 1974.
More than 2,500 people, mostly fishermen from this coastal town, participated in the two-day annual festival.
Referring to the pressure from political parties in Tamil Nadu, including ruling AIADMK and arch rival DMK, on India to support the US-sponsored resolution against Sri Lanka on alleged human rights violations at the March UNHCR meet in Geneva, he said “we will wait and see and review the same later.”
On the fishermen issue, he said India was helping both Sri Lankan fishermen and the Tamils in the island republic by providing training in fishing and other aspects.
He said if Chief Minister Jayalalithaa did not take action against fishermen for crossing into Lankan waters, then Sri Lankan fishermen would stage protests.
Devananda told fishermen from India and Sri Lanka, who had come for the festival, that he had written to Jayalalithaa stating that fishermen from both countries should be called for talks to solve their problems.
Though he had called Indian fishermen for talks with their Lankan counterparts, they did not turn up yesterday, he said.
High Commissioner of India in Sri Lanka Ashok Kantha also participated in the festival, PTI reports.
