Stalin writes to MEA on arrest of fishermen
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin has written to the Minister of External Affairs, Dr S Jaishankar, seeking urgent intervention for the release of fishermen arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy.
Jaishankar will travel to Sri Lanka on Thursday in his first bilateral visit abroad in his second consecutive term in office.
The four fishermen were arrested and their trawler seized early on Tuesday.
“In the latest incident of alleged poaching by Indians, one Indian trawler was seized and four fishermen were arrested early on Tuesday around the northern islet of Delft in the Jaffna peninsula,” the Sri Lanka Navy said in a statement.
A day after the arrests, MK Stalin wrote to S Jaishankar to draw attention to the matter.
In his letter, Chief Minister Stalin mentioned that the fishermen, who set out from the Kottaipattinam fishing harbour in Pudukottai District on a mechanised fishing boat, were detained by the Sri Lankan Navy.
Stalin expressed his concern over the repeated incidents of fishermen’s arrests, saying, “These incidents not only disrupt the livelihoods of the fishermen but also instil a sense of fear and uncertainty among their families and the entire coastal communities.”