Protest in TN against mid-sea attack on Tamil fishermen by Sri Lankans

CHENNAI: The fishermen in Nagapattinam and Ramanathapuram districts of Tamil Nadu were protesting on Monday against the mid-sea attack on fishermen allegedly by Sri Lankans.

Fishermen Association of Nagapattinam president Soundaraajan told IANS that the fishermen were protesting in the two districts, but all of the fishermen in Tamil Nadu will join the protest if the governments -- state and central --do not take appropriate action against those who indulged in attacking Indian fishermen.

The assault, according to the fishermen, occurred on Saturday late night in mid-sea and the attackers seized valuables, including fishing net, GPS, Mobile phones and catch worth thousands of rupees. The fishermen said that they were in no position to resist the attack and had to return home on Sunday morning.

The fishermen are identified as brothers and were fishing in their father’s boat. They are Pradeep (34), Prakash (32), Praveen (30) and Thirumurugan (27) and were fishing in their father Sabapathi’s boat.

The fishermen said that they had gone fishing on September 21 and were fishing near Point Calimere when a motor boat with seven people confronted them in mid sea and demanded their belongings. When the fishermen refused to part with this, they were assaulted with lethal weapons inflicting injuries to them.

The injured fishermen are now admitted at Nagapattinam Government hospital and a police case registered in Velankanni police station.

RMP Rajendira Nattar, President, Indian National Fishermen Union while speaking to media persons said that the fishermen strongly doubt the involvement of the Sri Lankan government in the assault.

The fishermen leader said that the Union government was silent on such attacks and called upon the Sri Lankan government to take action against such assailants since that country was friendly with India.