New Delhi/Colombo: Sri Lanka has released 11 Indian fishermen held captive since February this year. This is a goodwill gesture during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the island nation. Tamil Nadu chief minister M K Stalin had earlier taken up the issue of these fishermen with Indian external affairs minister S Jaishankar, who is accompanying Modi.
Fourteen Indian fishermen, in two boats, were arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy near Rameswaram, after they allegedly crossed the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL). Eleven of them, on one of the boats, were from Rameswaram and Pamban, and the three were from Thangachimadam.
It is believed that the 11 fishermen released on Sunday are the lot from Rameswaram and Pamban.
According to the authorities, the two boats were part of a nearly 470-boat flotilla that had set out from Rameswaram. Some of the boats crossed the IMBL after which a Sri Lankan Navy patrol boat attempted to chase them away. While most boats returned to the Indian side, two were apprehended.
The arrest of Indian fishermen by Sri Lankan authorities is a major issue in the states of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. The Tamil Nadu Assembly recently passed a resolution to reclaim Katchatheevu Island. Though Stalin and other politicians have been exerting pressure on the Centre to take up the issue of arrested fishermen with Sri Lanka, there is precious little that the Indian external affairs ministry can do, save from requesting the neighbouring country to treat the detainees fairly.
Only once in the recent past had India reacted strongly and summoned the Sri Lankan envoy in New Delhi to lodge a protest. This was after the Sri Lankan Navy opened fire near the Delft Island on January 28, injuring five Indian fishermen, two of them seriously.
