Twenty-two Tamil Nadu fishermen were injured in two separate attacks allegedly by the Sri Lankan navy which also briefly detained 16 of them while fishing near Katchatheevu in the Palk Straits, in the second such incident in as many days.
Taking strong exception to the recent arrest of Indian fishermen by Sri Lankan Navy, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Thursday requested the Centre to send out an "unequivocal" and "unambiguous" message to ensure that such acts cease hereafter.
The exercise was carried out in the Indian Ocean about 30 kilometres off the coast of Colombo.
The Sri Lankan government on Friday reached out to fishermen community of Tamil Nadu as President Mahinda Rajapaksa's brother and economic development minister Basil met their delegation here with a promise of addressing their concerns.
Several countries like the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Australia and Singapore have already banned travellers from India as well as other South Asian countries.
Twenty three fishermen from Tamil Nadu, arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy on July 22 when they were fishing near Katchatheevu in the Palk Straits, have been released, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna said on Friday.
The recent 'revelation' by TN fishers freed by Sri Lanka after they had paid up Lankan rupees 50,000 each in fines, that their hair was tonsured in prison and they were forced to remove their garments other than the underpants, and were also made to clean toilets, as if with vengeance, has touched a raw nerve this time, just as another issue or issues had done it ahead of the Jallikattu protests, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The incidents of arrests of fishermen and the recent firing should be viewed as an "indirect attempt to intimidate India and browbeat it into not raising its voice" against Sri Lanka on the innocent Tamils there in the international fora which is highly unacceptable, she said in a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
On the night of July 5, the Tigers launched their first kamikaze operation. Miller took the wheels of the explosive-packed truck, smiled at everyone as he turned the ignition key and drove it slowly towards the Sri Lankan military camp. A few moments later all of Jaffna heard a thunderous explosion that brought the complex crashing down in clouds of dust. Miller had given birth to a deadly tactic that Prabhakaran would employ time and again with devastating consequences to Sri Lanka -- and India. A fascinating excerpt from M R Narayan Swamy's must read new book, The Rout Of Prabhakaran.
The Sri Lankan navy on Wednesday detained as many as 327 Indian fishermen when they were fishing in the Palk Strait, and later released 227 of them, officials said.
Two Indian nationals were among a group of 53 people bound for Australia arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy, the police said on Wednesday.
The Harmanpreet Kaur-led India will be playing an ODI World Cup final for the third time, having finished runners-up in 2005 and 2017 to Australia and England, respectively. This will be South Africa's maiden appearance in the final.
'Investment is the only way India can counter the Chinese influence in the region.' 'With more and more investments, you will have more and more stake; the strategic importance of Sri Lanka can be fulfilled with investments.' 'Investments should come because the void which is created by investments is always going to be filled by Chinese companies.'
The Sri Lankan Navy on Wednesday claimed that it has killed at least 40 Tamil Tiger rebels when it confronted a flotilla of Sea Tiger boats in the seas off Vettilaikerni in the northern Jaffna peninsula.
Over 24 Tigers rebels are believed to have been killed on Sunday when the Sri Lankan Navy attacked and destroyed a ship carrying arms for the LTTE. "There were 24 to 25 people aboard the ship and we believe all of them have been killed," Defence Spokesman Udaya Nanayakkara said. The Lankan naval task group comprising Off Shore Patrol vessels SLNS Sayura, SLNS Sagara, Fast Attack Vessel SLNS Suranimila and Rendezvous vessel 521 were engaged in the elite operation.
Seeking a "decisive shift" in the Centre's stance vis-a-vis Sri Lanka on the arrest of Tamil Nadu fishermen, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Sunday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to secure the release of 33 fishermen, arrested by the island nation's navy, and ensure a lasting solution to the issue.
Sri Lanka on Thursday freed 33 Indian fishermen arrested for allegedly poaching in the country's waters, days after President Mahinda Rajapaksa ordered their release as a goodwill gesture.
'Will President Dissanayake calibrate his foreign policy taking into account India's immediate security concerns? We need to watch.'
An Indian crew member of a Comoros-flagged oil tanker that capsized off the Oman coast has died, officials said on Thursday.
In a letter to PM Modi, Jayalalithaa referred to the arrest of four Indian fishermen and pointed out that this was the third such incident since May 31.
21 fishermen were arrested and five boats were seized at Kankesanturai while 33 others on five boats were arrested at Talaimannar on Saturday night.
There was no immediate reaction from the LTTE in this regard.
A Sri Lankan Court on Wednesday ordered the release of 29 fishermen from Nagapattinam and Karaikal but extended the judicial remand of five others, officials said.
The Sea Tigers seized two fast attack crafts of the Sri Lankan navy and dismantled all the armament including a 23 mm canon and an AGL gun before destroying them.
The National Human Rights Commission has issued a notice to the ministry of external affairs, based on a complaint filed by Bharatiya Janata Party president Nitin Gadkari, about barbaric killings of more than 500 fishermen in the past few decades by the Sri Lankan Navy.
Against the backdrop of frequent attacks against Indian fishermen allegedly by the Sri Lankan navy, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi on Monday asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to advise Colombo in 'strong terms' to refrain from such 'uncalled for attacks'. Karunanidhi, who arrived in Delhi on a three-day visit on Sunday, met Dr Singh at his 7, Race Course Road residence and took up the issue of recent 'brutal attacks' by the Sri Lankan Navy on fishermen from TN.
India Masters defeated Sri Lanka Masters by four runs in a thrilling finish to the first match of the International Masters League.
The statements coming out of India on 'reclaiming' Kachchatheevu island from Sri Lanka have 'no ground', the Sri Lankan Minister of Fisheries Douglas Devananda has said.
the Navy exchanged fire with a flotilla of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam after the rebels attacked naval gunboats.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi on Thursday sought Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh's personal intervention for a firm action to put an end to Sri Lankan navy's firing on Indian fishermen.
Certain media reports had recently claimed that on Sunday, a Sri Lankan Navy ship had rammed into an Indian fishing vessel, sinking it. This kind of false information may have been spread by Tamil nationalists, who on one hand are trying to defame the Lankan Navy and on the other, are publicly defending Rajiv Gandhi's assassins.
Voicing concern over increased attacks on Indian fishermen by Sri Lankan Navy, Tamil Nadu government has asked the Centre to initiate diplomatic steps to check it and urged for withdrawal of the 1974 agreement ceding Katchatheevu islet to the island nation.
What comes as a relief to five families, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has agreed to pardon and release the five Tamil fishermen serving a death sentence for drug smuggling in the island nation.
In continuing instances of arrests of Tamil Nadu fishermen by Sri Lankan Naval personnel, 11 fishermen fishing in the sea between Katchatheevu and Neduntheevu were arrested on Tuesday.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Sunday requested Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to facilitate a dialogue between fishermen associations in the state and Sri Lanka in Chennai in December following frequent attacks and arrests of fishermen by naval personnel of the island nation.
Naval gunboats intercepted the Tiger boats leading to the battle, which lasted for six hours, it said.
The recent rise in number of deaths of Indian fishermen by Sri Lankan naval forces has raised an alarm in New Delhi. Politicians from Tamil Nadu met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday to brief him on the recent killings on the Sri Lankan waters, and also gave him a memorandum on the same.
India's external affairs ministry has said that the government will appeal against the judgment of a court in Sri Lanka to sentence five Indian fishermen to death.
Sri Lanka on Friday released 136 Indian fishermen who were apprehended for allegedly poaching in its waters, a day after India conveyed its deep concern over their detention and sought their release.
Sri Lanka has decided to impose a one-year moratorium in allowing foreign vessels to conduct research in the island nation's territorial waters, Foreign Minister Ali Sabry has said, amidst frequent docking requests from Chinese surveillance ships.
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