TN fishers attacked by Lankan pirates, Ramnad fishermen intensify protest

Fisheries officials said the trio Nagamuthu (44), Rajendran (54) and Paneerselvam (48) had ventured into the sea on a country boat on Sunday morning. When they were fishing in the water close to the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) south-east of Kodiakkarai, a group of armed Sri Lankan pirates intercepted them.

They attacked Tamil Nadu fishermen with iron rods and wooden logs and robbed them of their fishing nets, GPS gadget, cell phones and catch before fleeing the scene. The injured fishermen were treated at Vedaranyam GH. The Coastal Security Group police were investigating the matter.

Meanwhile, another gang confronted fishermen from Pushapavanam identified as S Bhuvaneshwaran (22), N Udhayakumar (50), N Tamilselvan (32) S Jegadesswaran (20), U Vignesh (27), K Kabilan (20), R Sudhan (18) and J Joseph Castro (25). They have lodged a complaint too.

Fishermen warn to give up citizenship

In Ramanathapuram, taking their protest to the next level, the fishers on Monday threatened to give up their Indian citizenship on February 2, if the Centre did not ensure the release of all Tamil Nadu fishermen from Sri Lanka and take steps to block the Island nation’s proposed move to auction 105 fishing boats seized from them.

Talking to reporters at Rameswaram, Secretary of All Mechanized Boats Fishermen Associations, P Jesuraja said a decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of the association. “We will surrender our Ration, Aadhaar and EPICs to the Ramanathapuram Collector on February 2,” he said.