Seven fishermen from Tamil Nadu were arrested by Sri Lankan Naval personnel for allegedly fishing in Lankan territorial waters prompting Chief Minister Jayalalithaa to request Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take steps for their release.          

The seven, part of groups of fishermen who ventured into the sea from Rameswaram, have been taken to Talaimannar in northern Sri Lanka, Rameswaram Fishermen Association President T Sesuraja said. The arrest came on the first day of fishermen resuming their work after the end of a 45-day-long annual fish breeding season ban on fishing using mechanised boats.

In a letter to Modi, Jayalalithaa also flagged the issue of Sri Lanka reportedly trying to rebuild a church in Katchatheevu. She said seven fishermen who had set out for fishing from Rameswaram yesterday were apprehended by the Lankan Navy early today.            

She said it was their first day of fishing after the 45-day ban period and they were taken to Talaimannar. Seeking to bring the resumption of fishermen’s arrest to his “direct personal attention,” she said, the “Sri Lankan Navy has escalated the frequency and magnitude of instances of abduction of our fishermen and the seizure of their boats and fishing equipment over the last two years.”      

She urged him to take up the matter with the highest authorities in Sri Lanka and secure the immediate release of the fishermen and a total of 89 fishing boats impounded on various occasions, without any delay.            

-PTI
-Agencies