(COLOMBO) – Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin urged the Indian authorities to release all Indian fishermen arrested for poaching in Sri Lanka’s territorial waters along with their vessels, media reports said on Friday.
Some 24 alleged Indian poachers were arrested by The Sri Lankan Navy during the recently concluded Tamil Pongal season.
Indian poachers are arrested by the Sri Lanka Navy on a regular basis but are subsequently released following diplomatic pressure from the Delhi and regional Tamil Nadu Governments.
Poaching by Indian fishermen in Sri Lankan waters on the northern Palk Straits has remained a festering issue ever since the conflict between the security forces and the separatist Tamil Tigers ended in 2009.
‘With a sense of deep anguish, I would like to draw your attention to the repeated apprehensions of fishermen and their fishing boats by the Sri Lankan Navy,’ Stalin was quoted as saying in the reports.
‘These apprehensions have created an insecure atmosphere among the fishing community who are solely dependent on fishing for their livelihoods. As there appears to be no respite in the arrests it is important to impress upon Sri Lanka to refrain from these arbitrary arrests and detentions of boats and to set a clear timeline to release all the boats under their custody, Stalin said.
