A Ganesh Nadar travels to Pamban, a small village in coastal Tamil Nadu, to find out how the cordial relations between the fishermen of India and Sri Lanka got frayed
Relations between fishermen from India and Sri Lanka used to be friendly till the 1970s, informs S P Royappan, president of the District Country Boat Fishermen Sangam in Pamban.
Pamban is a small village in Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu's Ramanathapuram district. Royappan has been engaged in the business of fishing for 20 years and has headed out to the sea for the last 15 years.
The friendly equation between the fisher-folk of the two countries was disrupted when the ethnic conflict started in Sri Lanka, he says.
Speaking on the ongoing fracas between India and Sri Lanka over the latter's alleged killing of Indian fishermen, Royappan recalls better times in the past. "Most Lankan fishermen were Tamils and a few were Sinhalese. They used to buy and sell goods for us. We used to do the same. Even the Lankan Navy used to buy fish from us," he says.
But the bloody civil war changed all that. "The war between the Tamils and Sinhalese destroyed the peace in the sea. The Lankan Navy became our enemy," he adds gravely.
Though the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam has been annihilated, the anger against Tamil fishermen continues to simmer among the Lankan Navy, feels Royappan.
He admits candidly, "Our fishermen regularly cross the international border."
Royappan explains that Katchathievu Island is only 14 nautical miles away, and the Lankan maritime boundary starts two nautical miles before that. So the border is only 12 nautical miles away, of which seven nautical miles are full of corals.
That left the Indian fishermen only five nautical miles to fish in, which is not enough for the many, many fishermen in Rameswaram, says Royappan.
"It is impossible to fish here without crossing the border," Royappan insisted, quoting the 1974 accord between Indian and Sri Lanka that allowed fishermen to fish around Katchathievu. "That is the only solution for local fishermen."
He opines that governments and representatives of fishermen from both nations should sit together and discuss the issue to find a solution agreeable to both parties. Two months ago, local fishermen held a dialogue with Lankan fishermen in Jaffna in Sri Lanka but could not arrive at a solution, informs Royappan.
The fishermen's association has already filed a case against the Lankan Navy at the Madurai bench of the Madras high court.
The problems of the Rameswaram fishermen could be solved if the two governments are able to reach an accord on Katchathievu Island, which was gifted to Lanka by India in 1974, is the overwhelming
Image: S P Royappan
