Rameshwaram fishermen’s demands unreasonable - Minister Rajitha Senaratne

by P. Krishnaswamy

Reacting to the on-going protest demonstrations of Tamil Nadu fishermen in Rameswaram, demanding the release of five of their men in Sri Lanka’s detention and their threats to blockade the Adam’s Bridge across the Palk Strait , Minister of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development Dr.Rajitha Senaratne said that the five were arrested for drug trafficking and the Government cannot release them as a judicial process was under way.

The Rameswaram fishermen’s demands are unreasonable because the law has to take its course in the case of these five who had committed a serious criminal offence.

All other Indian fishermen who were arrested for cross-border fishing have already been released by Sri Lanka in contrast to the case of 16 Sri Lankan fishermen arrested in India who continue to be detained for many months, the Minister said. Five of them are in detention in the Indian Union territory, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, while the others are in Andhra Pradesh.

Fishermen’s unions in Mannar and Pesalai staged a massive demonstration on Wednesday to protest against the continuing large-scale poaching by Indian fishermen; their destructive bottom trawler fishing method and highhanded attitudes towards the Sri Lankan fishermen.

They also demanded permission to the local fishermen to engage in conch shell, and sea cucumber fishing and ban on outsiders using oxygen cylinders. Minister Senaratne said that the question of cross-border fishing is being dealt with on a government- to- government basis with India while the Deputy Director of Fisheries in Mannar has been instructed to settle the other issues.