Lankan Navy sinks boat, fishermen mull strike

More than 2,000 fishermen in 432 mechanised boats had ventured into the sea on Wednesday night and were fishing off Dhanushkodi, when the Sri Lankan Navy began attacking them, a fishermen association functionary said.

“They pelted stones and threw bottles on Indian fishermen. They went close to the boats and damaged the nets,” he said. In the attack, Sri Lankany Navy vessel rammed a boat that belongs to Arockia Cruz and damaged it severely. “As water began to entering the boat and sinking it, the five fishermen who were on board jumped into the sea and were rescued by fellow fishermen,” said Tamil Nadu Mechanised Fishermen Association president P Sesuraja. 

Meanwhile, a large number of fishermen gathered in the Rameswaram coast to voice their protest against Sri Lankan Navy. They held a meeting with the fishermen representatives at the community hall. Following the meeting, the representatives announced that they would stage an indefinite strike from Friday. Fishermen representative Bose said that 105 mechanised boats of Tamil Nadu fishermen have been taken away by the Sri Lankan government and another 18 have been damaged so far.

If the Sri Lankan government does not return the boats and pay compensation for the damaged ones by October 12 they would intensify their protest by staging an indefinite fast from October 13, he said. Sesuraja said that fishing nets of more than 70 boats were damaged in the latest attack. It comes a day after five fishermen from Pudukottai District were detained by Sri Lankan Naval personnel along with their boat, he said. 

Condemning the incident, Sesuraja said that such an attack taking place when Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was on a visit to India and holding talks with his counterpart Narendra Modi caused deep anguish among fishermen. “Both the leaders should find a permanent solution to the recurring problem,” he said.