Chief Minister Jayalalithaa today appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to urge the Sri Lankan Government to release the Indian fishermen and their fishing boats.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, she said 15 fishermen apprehended by the Lankan Navy earlier this month were still languishing in their custody. “It is highly disheartening to note that our fishermen are facing daily threats of harassment and abduction at the hands of the Sri Lankan Navy while fishing in their traditional fishing waters in the Palk Bay,” she said.

Claiming that a total of 9 fishing boats were also in Sri Lankan custody currently, the Chief Minister said the Sri Lankan strategy of not releasing boats while releasing fishermen and throttling the livelihood of fishermen is causing immense frustration amongst the fishing community in the State.

Stating that the International Maritime Boundary Line – IMBL itself was a matter of sub judice in the Supreme Court of India where in the Tamil Nadu Government has challenged the unconstitutional ceding of Katchatheevu through the 974 and 1976 agreements, Jayalalithaa said “the State strongly reiterates the need to restore the rights of our fishermen by annulling the ill-advised Indo-Sri Lankan agreements of 1974 and 1976”.

“I urge your personal intervention in this matter and request you to direct the Ministry of External Affairs to look into the matter with the Sri Lankan authorities in a concrete and decisive manner so as to secure the immediate release of our 21 fishermen and 92 fishing bots including the six fishermen and their mechanical boat apprehended on June 9 at the earliest,” she said.