Tension in North defused:

Indian fishermen’s protest called off

by P. Krishnaswamy

The tense situation in the Northern fishing villages yesterday following reports that thousands of protesting fishermen were to set off from India and invade the Kachchativu island was defused after the planned protest was called off.

Navy spokesman Commander Kosala Warnakulasooriya told the Sunday Observer that this was the third time that the Indian fishermen had made similar threats demanding the right to poach in the Northern waters.

There were no special deployments except the routine Navy deployment from Mannar to Point Pedro to protect Sri Lanka’s territorial waters, he said.

Generally the Navy apprehends vessels and their crew encroaching the Northern waters to check illegal poaching. Those apprehended are handed over to the police or to the fisheries authorities for legal action, the Navy spokesman said.

Leaders of fishermen’s organisations who the Sunday Observer contacted said that they were planning counter-protests if their Indian counterparts went ahead with “their unjustifiable and menacing demands”.

Media Secretary to the Minister of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development Narendra Rajapaksa said that at present the number of Indian fishing vessels in the custody of the Government is 62 and the crew 93.

The 93 fishermen will be released after producing them in Court this month but their fishing vessels will not be released, he said.