Fishermen associations in Rameswaram on Tuesday said they would abstain from work indefinitely from Wednesday, if the Sri Lankan government failed to release 29 Indian fishermen.
The associations have appealed to the Central and State governments to immediately take up the issue of arrest of the fishermen along with their four mechanised boats by the Sri Lankan Navy personnel on Monday with their counterparts in the island nation, and set them free on humanitarian grounds.
Passing resolutions at a meeting, chaired by president S. Emerit, the fishermen said that 29 fishermen from Thangachimadam and Rameswaram hamlets had set off to the sea for fishing on Monday after obtaining tokens from the Fisheries Department. It was unfortunate that the Sri Lankan Navy personnel had secured them along with their boats and fishnets on charges of violating the IMBL laws. The Centre should take it up with the Sri Lankan government and ensure that the fishermen were released immediately.
Meanwhile, Sesu Raja, a fishermen association leader said that they had information that the Sri Lankan authorities had detained all the 29 fishermen and kept them in quarantine. After 14 days, they would be produced before the courts and remanded in judicial custody.
At a time when fishermen were finding it tough to survive, such harassment from the Sri lankan authorities only pushed the fishermen to the end of their tethers. “We are in a state of shock and anger as the government in Sri Lanka had always been targeting the Indian fishermen...The Centre should call upon the Sri Lankan government and rescue the fishermen safely,” he appealed.
