M.K. Stalin urges for the release of Tamil Nadu fishermen

MK. Stalin

Following a diplomatic meeting between Sri Lanka’s President, Anura Kumaran Dissanayake, and India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, Tamil Nadu’s Chief Minister, M.K. Stalin has urged the Sri Lankan premier to release “Tamil Nadu fishermen detained by the Sri Lankan Navy”.

The meeting between Dissanayake and Modi focused on a number of areas of collaboration including on sectors of housing, agriculture, dairy and fisheries. There was also a specific focus on projects supporting the Tamil North-East. This included grants to rejuvenate the railway signalling system between Maho and Anuradhapura and the Kankesanthurai Port.

In October, Stalin had written to India’s external affairs ministers raising concern over the continued arrest by Tamil Nadu fishermen, which he described as on the rise. In his letter he calls for the release of all 128 fishermen from Tamil Nadu and the 199 fishing boats which remain in Sri Lanka’s custody.

Tamil fishermen on both sides of the Palk Straits have been devastated by ongoing fishing disputes between the two countries. Speaking to the Hindu, Sri Lanka’s Minister of Fisheries Ramalingam Chandrasekar, maintained that the enduring disputes could only be resolved if the Indian side stops using the destructive bottom-trawling.

In 2016, India and Sri Lanka established a “Joint Working Group” that had agreed to “expedite the transition towards ending the practice of bottom trawling at the earliest”. Chandrasekar, who represents a northern district in Jaffna, maintained that solving the Indo-Lankan fisheries conflict is part of the Government’s plans to enhance Sri Lanka’s fish production using modern technology and sustainable methods.

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