statesman news service Chennai, 6 August Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Tuesday urged the Centre to adopt a "coercive…
statesman news service
Chennai, 6 August
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Tuesday urged the Centre to adopt a "coercive diplomacy" against Colombo to end their harassment.
She further described the recurring incidents of attacks and "abductions" of Indian fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy as acts of "an unfriendly nation."
Referring to the 3 August arrest of 20 Indian fishermen from the state by the Lankan Navy, the chief minister said she had told Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that it was yet another "outrageous incident."
In a letter she had told Mr Singh, "I have been repeatedly writing to you about the travails of innocent Tamil Nadu fishermen who face harassment, abduction, assault and apprehension at the hands of the Sri Lankan Navy, which continues its menacing and predatory acts in the face of the immobility and apathy of Government of India to the plight of these innocent fishermen."
The ineffective response of India has emboldened the Lankan Navy to continue such predatory attacks on Indian fishermen, she said.
She said such frequent arrests and detention for long had created tension and agitation among the
fishermen community in the state which "now nurses strong grievance against India”.
She also requested Mr Singh to "take immediate steps to initiate a diplomatic dialogue with Sri Lanka to immediately stop recurrence of such incidents of arrest and harassment of the fishermen.
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