JOIN USOver a hundred fishermen from Tamil Nadu’s Nagapattinam district were attacked by Sri Lanka’s Navy in open waters in the Bay of Bengal on Wednesday morning.
Ironically, this comes ahead of a meeting to discuss issues related to fishermen between Indian and Sri Lankan officials on January 20.
Officials in India’s fisheries department here said more than a hundred Indian fishermen had gone to sea in about 50 boats. When they were fishing near the Kodiyakarai area, the Lankan Navy intercepted them and pelted them with stones.
A senior official said that this damaged more than 10 boats and several fishing nets. He said about ten fishermen were injured in the attack, adding that no one was arrested.
The Tamil Nadu government on Monday released
52 Sri Lankan fishermen lodged in jail following the release of a similar number of Indian fishermen by the Lankan courts.
The latest attack comes less than two weeks after 25 fishermen from Ramanathapuram district were apprehended by the Sri Lankan Navy on January 2 at the Mandapam south fishing base.
Though the Sri Lankan government released 52 Indian fishermen on Monday, nearly two hundred Indian fishermen continue to languish in their jails.