Help repatriate Rameswaram fishermen, Annamalai urges EAM
He also appealed to Jaishankar to utilise his good offices to secure the prompt release of the detained fishermen and ensure their safe return
K Annamalai
CHENNAI: State BJP president K Annamalai on Sunday urged External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to intervene and facilitate quick repatriation of 32 Rameswaram fishermen who were apprehended by the Sri Lankan Navy on charges of fishing in their territorial waters.
In a letter to Jaishankar, Annamalai expressed his profound gratitude to the minister for his timely interventions in securing the release of Indian fishermen detained in foreign waters.
However, he brought to the minister’s notice the alarming frequency with which Tamil fishermen have been detained by the Sri Lankan Navy in recent times.
The saffron party leader told the minister of his own party’s regime at the Centre that the arrest of 32 Rameswaram fishermen shows the gravity of the issue.
“The fishermen's boats were also seized by the naval authorities. It is learnt that the detained fishermen are to be produced before a Sri Lankan court in Thalaimannar,” he said in the letter to the minister. The BJP leader sought to highlight the distress and anguish faced by the families of the detained fishermen, who are entirely dependent on their loved ones’ income for their livelihood.
He also appealed to Jaishankar to utilise his good offices to secure the prompt release of the detained fishermen and ensure their safe return.
