Sri Lankan Navy arrests four fishermen from Tamil Nadu, seizes one boat

Barely two days after Sri Lankan Navy arrested 21 Indian fishermen for allegedly fishing in their territorial waters, four more were arrested on Friday night. All the four hailed from Tamil Nadu’s Nagapattinam. [caption id=“attachment_3736925” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. AFP[/caption] The navy also seized one boat used by the fishermen near Paruthithurai at the Bay of Bengal, as reported by ANI. On Thursday, four fishermen from Pudukottai district and 17 fishermen from Karaikal region in Puducherry were arrested by Sri Lankan navy near Neduntheevu on Thursday, the police said. The fishermen were then taken to Kangesanthurai port in the island nation along with their boats, Rameswaram Fishermen Association president P Sesuraja said. Following multiple arrest, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu K Palaniswamy  wrote to Narendra Modi, seeking his intervention to secure the release of fishermen arrested by Sri Lanka along with their boats. Palaniswamy urged Modi to direct the external affairs ministry to urgently take up the issue with the highest authorities in Sri Lanka. “Long periods of impoundments of fishing boats would render them unworthy of sailing and it would push the life and livelihood propositions of Indian fishermen into misery”, Palaniswamy said in the letter. The arrest came amid Sri Lanka’s announcement last week that some 142 Indian fishing boats would be released in phases. With inputs from agencies