Condemning the recent arrest of 25 fishermen from Tamil Nadu by Sri Lankan Navy, Country Craft Fishermen Welfare Association staged a protest here on Tuesday. They demanded immediate intervention of State and Union government to bring back the arrested fishermen to Tamil Nadu.
On Monday, when the fishermen were fishing in four country boats near Neduntheevu, the Sri Lankan Navy personnel who were on patrol nabbed the four boats and arrested the fishermen on charges of poaching and took them to Kankesanthurai.
S.P. Rayappan, President, Country Craft Fishermen Welfare Association, speaking at the protest, said the Sri Lankan Navy personnel who usually would not arrest the country craft fishermen, had come in about two nautical miles into the Indian side of the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) to arrest the Indian fishermen.
Adding to this, he demanded the immediate intervention of State and Union governments to expedite efforts to get the 25 fishermen released from there. Further, he said, if no actions were taken by July 5 morning, fishermen would block the Pamban road bridge and in the evening they would stage a sit-in protest outside the Mandapam railway station. Due to the strike, boats were tied in shallow water area.