Sri Lankan Navy arrests 8 Indian fishermen, seizes 2 boats too

Alleged violation of maritime boundary

Arrested fishermen

Colombo (Sri Lanka) – Incidents of arresting Indian fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy are ongoing. On December 8 morning, 8 Indian fishermen were arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy on charges of violating their boundary. Their 2 boats were also seized. All the detained fishermen are residents of Ramanathapuram in Tamil Nadu.

Such incidents have been happening for the last several years. Earlier, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin had appealed to the Union Government to take concrete and proactive steps. On this, External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar had said that the Indian High Commission in Colombo and the Consulate in Jaffna are taking such cases expeditiously and continuously for the early release of the detained persons; however, in reality, no permanent action seems to have been taken so far in that direction to avoid such arrest. (The public does not expect this from the Indian Government if it has not taken any measures for so many years while such incidents are continuously happening in Pakistan and Sri Lanka. – Editor)

Editorial Perspective

Why is the Indian Government not creating a system to make Indian fishermen aware of the Indian maritime boundary ?