Sri Lankan Navy arrests 5 more Rameswaram fishermen

Rameswaram (Tamil Nadu): Five fishermen from Rameswaram were arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy on Tuesday for allegedly crossing the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) while fishing.According to the State Secretary of the Fishermen Association, NJ Bose, the fishermen had ventured out to sea on Monday despite fears of repeated violations by the Sri Lankan Navy."Fearing to go fishing due to the ongoing violations by the Sri Lankan Navy, the fishermen set out from Rameswaram yesterday, more than 360 boats," Bose told ANI.The fishermen were operating in the Gulf of Mannar, in waters between Dhanushkodi and Thalaimannar, when the Sri Lankan Navy intercepted them. A mechanised boat owned by a local fisherman named Justin was seized, and the five fishermen on board were detained.The arrested individuals have been identified as Justin (56) and Mobin (20) from Thangachimadam, Simon (53) from Rameswaram, and Denison (36) and Shekar (30) from Pamban--all residents of the Rameswaram area.Bose claimed, "They are being taken to the Mannar Navy camp for questioning." He added that the incident has triggered unrest among the fishing community in Rameswaram.This comes just a week after a similar incident, when four Rameswaram fishermen were arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy while fishing in the same region. They were on board the motorboat IND-TN-10-MM-1072, owned by M Muniyasamy of Rameswaram. The arrested fishermen--Thangaraj (40), T. Lingam (59), Selvam (50), and Irulandi (50)--all from Veppangulam in Rameswaram, were also taken to the Mannar Navy camp for interrogation.

Reacting to last week's arrests, CR Senthilvel, State Secretary of the Sea Workers' Union, had said, "Our 4 fishermen from Rameshwaram who went for fishing were arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy, and even one of their boats was captured. Our fishermen were fishing in the Indian borders near Dhanushkodi. The question is whether our Indian Military is doing security work in this region. Our Indian Navy failed to protect our fishermen. The Indian government is simply watching the arrest of our fishermen by the Sri Lankan navy, which is also coming into our borders. This has been usual. These regional fishermen's livelihoods were hugely affected. The Indian government should interfere in this," said Senthilvel.Earlier this month, on July 13, seven Indian fishermen were also detained by the Sri Lankan Navy for allegedly fishing across the maritime boundary. According to the Rameswaram Fishermen Association, they were operating the boat 'IND-TN-10-MM-746', belonging to V Isaac Paul of Thangachimadam.The arrested fishermen were identified as P Tuthar (40) of Thangachimadam Raja Nagar, P Edison (51) of Thangachimadam Walasai Street, Shanmugam (50) of Rameswaram TSM Nagar, Sakthivel (47), Jagadish (48), Dalvin Raj (46), and Anbazhagan of Manthope. They were taken to the Kankesanthurai port in Sri Lanka for questioning.The association also stated that on the day of the July 13 incident, around 456 fishing boats had ventured into the sea after obtaining proper permits from the Rameswaram fishing port.