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| Wednesday, 17 November 2004 |
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by P. Krishnaswamy Three coxswain among the 12 Indian fishermen whom the Navy apprehended last week while in the act of poaching in Sri Lankan territorial waters and later handed over to police custody will be prosecuted, Solicitor General C. R. de Silva PC told the "Daily News". The others will be produced before Court and discharged, unless the Court finds their involvement liable for further juidicial action, he said. He also said that the three fishing trawlers that were apprehended will be confiscated under Court determination as has been done in the past. The SG also said that Indian boatmen transporting Sri Lankan refugees back here will not be prosecuted. Fishermen of Southern India kept away from going to sea for a number of days and threatened to come across the Palk Strait in their fishing vessels in a major protest against the apprehension of Indian fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy and the purported attacks on them. On the other hand the Sri Lankan fishermen of the Northern areas also staged simultaneous protests and boycots demanding an end to poaching by Indian fishermen in large number and their atrocities. Confrontations between the Northern fishermen and their Indian counterparts began after the lifting of a 15 year fishing ban on the former in the wake of the LTTE-GOSL ceasefire agreement signed in February 2002. Fishermen's associations of the North frequently complained that poaching and other atrocities of Indian fishermen were posing a major threat to the livelihood of over 20,000 local fisher families. Clashes in the highseas, apprehension of fishing trawlers with fishermen and protests continued to be the concern of the two governments. |
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