In a major step forward, fishermen leaders from Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu and their counterparts in Sri Lanka’s Northern Province held talks in the island nation on Thursday (March 26, 2025), after a gap of nine years.
Speaking to The Hindu from Sri Lanka over the phone, fishermen leader V.P. Jesu Raja said a five-member delegation from Rameswaram had arrived in Sri Lanka after they made a representation to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin to arrange for a personal meeting with the jailed fishermen there.
About 50 fishermen from Tamil Nadu are in Sri Lankan prisons, and the fishermen leaders wanted to meet them in person and express their solidarity, he said. The leaders arrived on Wednesday (March 25, 2025) and met the jailed fishermen in Vavuniya prison on Thursday.
Later, the delegates held talks with their counterparts in Sri Lanka, which lasted over an hour. He said that during the meeting, they discussed the difficulties they face in their day-to-day lives.
The fishermen leaders from Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka last met in 2016, at the initiative of the late leader and former Union Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj.
‘Frequent arrests’
While the Tamil Nadu delegates expressed concerns over the frequent arrests made by the Sri Lankan Navy personnel on charges of poaching, the Sri Lankan side said the use of banned fishing nets by the T.N. fishermen spoiled the ecosystem and damaged natural resources.
Sri Lankan fishermen leader Mahaboob Alam said that only after fishermen associations raised the issue of non-arrest of T.N. fishermen on charges of poaching did the Sri Lankan government implement the law, after which Navy personnel were deployed for surveillance along the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL).
“If the T.N. fishermen take away fish from our waters, where will the fishermen from Sri Lanka go,” Mr. Alam asked the delegation, and urged the T.N. fishermen to refrain from crossing the IMBL.
Katchatheevu row
The issue of Katchatheevu islet also figured in the talks, Mr. Raja said. But the fishermen leaders from T.N. said they were not interested in getting into the subject of whether it was to be retrieved or not. They said “fish is available only in the Katchatheevu area,” and as they had been traditionally fishing there from time immemorial, they pleaded that it should be permitted.
Political leaders may have different opinions about Katchatheevu, but as fishermen, they appealed to their counterparts not to make an issue out of it.
Both fishermen leaders jointly addressed the media and said that the Sri Lankan and Indian governments should convene a meeting in the larger interest of the fishing community and bring about an amicable solution.
With Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi scheduled to visit Sri Lanka soon, the fishermen leaders from Tamil Nadu hoped that the issue would be raised with the Sri Lankan President and government officials, yielding positive results, Mr. Raja said.
Thanking the Tamil Nadu government for assisting the delegates in reaching out to Sri Lanka and for making arrangements to visit the jailed fishermen in the Lankan prisons, the delegation expressed satisfaction over the talks. “This is a good beginning and we hope to see light soon,” Mr. Raja said. The fishermen delegation is expected to return home on March 31 or April 1, he added.
He also hoped that the fishermen delegation would get a chance to meet the PM during his visit to inaugurate the Pamban rail bridge in Ramanathapuram district on April 6.
Published - March 27, 2025 05:07 pm IST
