The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
Lankan Navy officer’s death
Jaffna, arriving around 5 am, a sail that took longer than expected due to heavy winds and rough weather. “The boat driver says it was only upon arrival at the Sri L an kan harbour that they saw the Navy officers shifting an injured person from the Navy’s boat to an ambulance waiting there,” sources said, quoting the boat driver’ s statement.
V Anandan, the trawler’s owner, expressed hope that the murder charges would not hold. “The fisher men left na ga pattin am harbour around 4 am on June 21 and were supposed to return by the evening of June 26,” Anandan told The Indian Express. “Over a dozen Indian boats were in the vicinity when the Navy intercepted our boat. Realising the Navy’s actions, they all fled the scene.” They informed Anandan around 2.30 am that his boat had been seized along with the crew.
He said that the fishermen were usually paid a collection amount, which varies from Rs 3,000 to 10,000, or about 22 to 25% of the total profit, depending on the catch after a usually fiveday fishing expedition.
The sri lank an navy insists the Indian trawler was well w it hinsri L an kan waters when intercepted, more than 43 nautical miles from the Indian coast, which is Nagapattinam. Indian waters from Nagapattinam end at approximately 40 nautical miles. Pandian, a fisherman from Nagapattinam who frequently travels to the same region, argued that trawlers often venture into sri Lankan waters during rough weather too.
“It is a fact that we venture into Sri Lankan waters for fishing in desperate times. But variation of 2-3 nautical miles should not have been areas on for the Navy’s action. It’s merely a matter of a 10 minute sail to return to indian waters ,” said Pandian.
The arrested fishermen, including seven from Nagapattinam, one from Cuddalore in Tamil na du, and two from and hr a Pradesh, were taken to the
Kankesanthurai Naval base, and their trawler was seized.
In an official statement, the sri Lankan Navy described the operation as an effort to “chase away Indian poaching trawlers from Sri L an kan waters ”. during this operation, the statement said, a sailor from the Navy Special Boat Squadron sustained critical injuries due to the alleged aggressive manoeuvres of the Indian trawler and later died at the Teaching Hospital in Jaffna.
While the Sri Lankan Navy claims that they frequently encounter aggressive manoeuvres by Indian trawlers, leading to injuries to naval personnel and damage to their ships, the Indian fishermen’ s version tells a story of unexpected confrontation and arrest. The fishermen, now held in a facility at Mailadi near Kankesanthurai, await their fate. Their relatives in India were busy ar ranging legal assistance inja ff na.
The incident occurred a day after Tamil Na du Chief Minister M K Stalin wrote to Union Minister for External Affairs S Jaishankar, urging him to secure the release of 47 fishermen and their boats currently in Sri Lankan custody.
The fishermen issue remains a contentious point in India-sri Lanka relations, marked by incidentswhere lank an navy personnel have fired at indian fisher men in the Palk Strait and seized their boats for allegedly entering Sri L an kan territorial waters. the palk Strait, a narrow waterway separating Tamil Nadu from Sri Lanka, is a rich fishing ground for fisher men from both nations. however, the waters are fraught with conflict, as fishermen from India are often arrested for inadvertently crossing into Sri Lankan territory due to the proliferation of bottom trawlers on the Indian side.
The Sri Lankan Navy reported that they have arrested over 200 Indian fishermen and seized 27 trawlers for illegal fishing in Sri Lankan waters this year alone. In 2023, the Navy apprehended 240 Indian fisher men and confiscated 35 trawlers on similar charges.