Thirteen fishermen from Tamil Nadu have been arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy for allegedly poaching in Lankan territorial waters.
Thirty-eight Tamil Nadu fishermen were on Thursday arrested by Sri Lankan navy for allegedly crossing the International Maritime Boundary line, three days after fishermen representatives of India and Sri Lanka met to discuss the vexed fishing issue.
Four more fishermen were on Thursday allegedly taken into custody by Sri Lankan Navy for fishing near Katchatheevu, the second such incident in as many days.
Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Friday dismissed as "wrong reports" about firing on Indian fishermen by Sri Lankan Navy in the last 10 months, but said cases of some excesses by them have been taken up.
More than 2200 fishermen in about 596 boats were fishing in the sea near Katchatheveeu, an islet ceded by India to the island nation, when the Navy personnel came on four boats and intecepted them.
They also pelted stones at the fishermen before driving them away
Sri Lankan navy personnel on Sunday allegedly assaulted four Indian fishermen for not helping one of their colleagues, who fell in their boat while trying to jump in the vessel and suffered a fracture.
The Sri Lankan Navy on Sunday arrested 17 fishermen along with their three boats when they were fishing near Katchatheevu, police said Rameshwaram.
The 49 Indian fishermen, arrested by Sri Lankan navy recently, have been released and will return home in a couple of days, Tamil Nadu government on Wednesday said in Chennai.
The police confirmed that the boat had not crossed the maritime borders when the firing occurred.
The arrest comes a day after Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam asked the Centre to send a 'firm message' to the island nation over continued apprehension of the state's fishermen.
At least 10 fishermen from this coastal town have been taken into custody by the Sri Lankan navy for reportedly crossing the International Maritime Boundary Line and fishing in their waters.
The incident occurred about 30 nautical miles from the Indian coast where a group of nine fishermen from Kanniyakumari in Tamil Nadu were fishing.
Sri Lankan Navy, assisted by helicopter gunships, on Saturday destroyed three Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam boats, killing at least 15 of its cadres, while rebels said they sank two naval vessels in a fierce sea battle.
Sixty-five Indian fishermen in nine trawlers have been detained by the Sri Lankan navy for allegedly violating the international maritime border.
Four fishermen from Tamil Nadu's Nagapattinam district were allegedly attacked by Sri Lankan Navy personnel with wooden logs while they were fishing off Kodiakarai coast in a mechanised boat, official sources said on Thursday. The fishermen, who went for fishing on Wednesday, returned on Thursday morning. They have been admitted to a government hospital with injuries.
After stepping up attacks on the Union government over India's participation in the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Sri Lanka last month, chorus is mounting in Tamil Nadu among opposition parties over the country's offer to train Sri Lankan Naval personnel.
Ten Indian fishermen, arrested for allegedly engaged in illegal fishing in the Sri Lankan waters on Monday, will be charged with the death of a Navy sailor, who was killed in an operation to seize their trawler, authorities in Colombo said.
Sri Lanka's Defence Ministry claimed that six attack boats, including two suicide craft, of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam were destroyed during a heavy sea battle erupted on Wednesday morning in seas south off Delft.
'The food the Sri Lankans gave us was horrible. It used to stink. We used to throw most of it away... In the night my legs used to be in someone's face and his legs used to be in my lap. There was no space... There was no toilet... Both our bathing water and drinking water were salty. We had to beg the guards for clean drinking water.' Rediff.com's A Ganesh Nadar speaks to Indian fishermen just released from Sri Lankan custody.
Sri Lankan Navy, who on Saturday surprised Indian fishermen trawling near Katchatheevu by offering them soft drinks and sweets, attacked eight fishermen in the Indian territory off Dhamushkodi coast early on Monday, fisheries department sources said.
Sri Lankan Navy on Tuesday allegedly sank an Indian fishing boat by colliding against it near Katchathivu, and arrested 15 fishermen from this coastal town in separate incidents, police said.
The navy engaged a flotilla of Tamil Tiger boats off the island's northeast and sank one boat, killing 15 rebels.
Seven Indian fishermen have been arrested by Sri Lankan navy for allegedly poaching in the country's waters in North Western province, media reported on Wednesday.
The Sri Lankan Navy on Thursday arrested 32 Indian fishermen for alleged illegal fishing off the east coast, taking the total number of fishermen arrested during the last two days to nearly 70.
Indian fishermen trawling near Katchatheevu were in for a big surprise on Sunday when Sri Lankan navalmen not only allowed them to fish but also offered them soft drinks and sweets.
Amidst stepped up pressure to secure the release of over 220 Tamil Nadu fishermen detained in Sri Lanka, 22 more were arrested by the island navy early on Sunday while fishing in the Palk Strait.
Taking up the matter with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Minister E K Palaniswami, in a letter, said the state government was "extremely" concerned over such incidents
Bringing the latest instance of the arrest of TN fishermen to the attention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Stalin said 12 of them were arrested on Thursday and two mechanised fishing boats were seized by the Lankan Navy.
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.
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 seven, part of groups of fishermen who put out to sea from Rameswaram in TN, have been taken to Talaimannar in northern Sri Lanka.
The Sri Lankan authorities will hand over the fishermen to the Indian consulate after which they will be repatriated to India after completing all the necessary COVID-19 protocols.
It is shameful that Governor Ravi has become a representative of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Raj Bhavan has turned into an office of the saffron party, he alleged.
The Indian Navy rescued an Iranian-flagged fishing vessel with 19 Pakistani crew members and a Sri Lankan trawler in two swift operations after armed pirates hijacked the boats in the Arabian Sea amid deteriorating security situation arising out of Iran-backed Houthi rebels targeting various cargo ships in the region.
A Chinese Navy warship capable of surveillance has docked at the Colombo port, nearly a year after another spy vessel berthed at a strategic port in the country and raised concerns in India.
The Indian high commission said its operational visit is to commemorate the ninth edition of International Day of Yoga under the theme of "Global Ocean Ring".
'During Congress rule, the government used to get both the fishermen and the boats released whenever the Sri Lankan navy apprehended them.' 'Under BJP rule, only the fishermen are being released.'
Fifty-three fishermen, including 30 from Rameshwaram, were arrested by the Sri Lankan naval personnel off Talaimannar and Jaffna early Thursday morning, Fisheries Association officials said.
Sixteen fishermen of Rameswaram and their four boats were detained on Monday allegedly by Sri Lankan naval personnel when they were fishing near the islet of Katchatheevu.
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