Warning of a potential 26/11-type attack by terrorists who could sneak in using seized Indian fishing vessels along the Palk Bay, the Indian Coast Guard on Wednesday recommended declaring the Indo-Sri Lanka International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) a No Fishing Zone (NFZ).
Making the drastic submission in an additional counter-affidavit filed before the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court, Inspector General V S R Murthy, Deputy Director General (Operations & Coastal Security), Coast Guard, said the NFZ would prevent illegal cross-border fishing. “The (TN) fishermen crossing IMBL may be potential target for non-State actors towards anti-national activities. Such forces may utilise...Indian fishing vessels for...attacks similar to...26/11,” he said.
On October 14, the court, hearing a PIL filed by advocate B Stalin seeking protection for Indian fishermen, passed an interim order directing the Coast Guard to deploy sufficient coast vessels under the supervision of senior Indian Navy officials. Seeking to vacate the interim order, the Coast Guard officer submitted that “no armed force vessels can cross into the territorial waters of another country for protection of their fishermen since it will be construed as intrusion into the sovereignty of that country.” It would violate Indo-Lankan treaties signed in 1974 and 1976. -ENS