Seized Indian boats to be given to Lankans

Sri Lanka has just upped the ante in the fishermen’s issue with the island nation’s Fisheries Minister Mahinda Amaraweera saying that the seized fishing trawlers of Indian fishermen would be nationalised through the courts and then handed over to local fishermen. 

The minister said this while responding to a request from TNA (Tamil National Alliance) MP MA Sumanthiran who wanted the seized boats to be handed over the Sri Lankan fishermen. The minister on Monday inspected seized boats at Paruthithurai, Kankesanthurai and Karainagar harbours in Jaffna district.

More than 60 fishing trawlers of Indian fishermen mainly from Rameswaram and Jagadapattinam, seized by the Sri Lankan navy are currently anchored in the naval camps in Jaffna, Trincomalee and Mannar districts. 

While Tamil Nadu CM J Jayalalithaa repeatedly wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking the release of the arrested fishermen and the return of their boats, the Sri Lankan move to hand over such boats to locals has upset Indian fishermen. In a meeting at Nagapattinam two days ago, they demanded all arrested fishermen and their boats be returned to Indian shores before Pongal, failing which they threatened to agitate against the Union Government on Republic Day. 

On Sunday, at a function set up by Sri Lankan fishermen’s associations and cooperative societies, Fisheries Minister Amaraweera ordered police and Sri Lankan navy to arrest all Indian fishermen who poached in Sri Lankan waters after Pongal. His orders to arrest nearly 500 boats was in response to tough questioning by Sri Lankan fishermen at the function, who wanted to know what the government was doing to safeguard their livelihood affected by Indian fishermen’s poaching.