Stalin urges Jaishankar to secure release of Tamil Nadu fishermen – Hindustan Times

The fishermen had ventured into the high seas for fishing on February 17 this year in an Andaman registered fishing vessel.

ByHT Correspondent, Chennai

Tamil Nadu chief minister (CM) M K Stalin on Thursday wrote to external affairs minister S Jaishankar seeking his intervention with the authorities in Indonesia and Seychelles over the arrest of fishermen.

Stalin said that five fishermen belonging to Tamil Nadu and another three fishermen from Kerala were apprehended by the Indonesian Air and Sea Police on charges of entering into the Indonesian waters. They were taken to Ditpolairud Pier, Aceh, Indonesia for legal proceedings, the CM said.

The fishermen had ventured into the high seas for fishing on February 17 this year in an Andaman registered fishing vessel. He said that they learnt through the fishermen associations that 33 fishermen and three registered mechanised fishing boats had ventured out from the Cochin Harbour in Kerala on February 22.

And on March 7, they were apprehended by the Seychelles Authority for allegedly entering into Seychelles waters.

I request your personal intervention in this matter and request you to take this up with the Indonesian and Seychelles authorities so as to secure the immediate release of the fishermen and their fishing boats, Stalin said in a statement.

After the ruling DMK formed the government last May, Stalin has written at least a dozen letters to Jaishankar and to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to draw their attention to the issue of Tamil fishermen being apprehended by the Sri Lankan Navy. He raised concerns over the alarming frequency with which the states fishermen were harassed, attacked and detained and has demanded their release.

It continues despite several letters having been sent from the Tamil Nadu government highlighting the escalation of such instances of harassment and arrest of our fishermen, Stalin had said in his letter to Modi on February 28. The repeated attempts by the Sri Lankan Navy to infringe on historic fishing rights of Tamil Nadu fishermen in the Palk Bay has to be permanently ended through concerted efforts by the Government of India.

BLURB On March 7, the fishermen were apprehended by the Seychelles Authority for allegedly entering into Seychelles waters

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Stalin urges Jaishankar to secure release of Tamil Nadu fishermen - Hindustan Times