Nineteen fishermen, who ventured into the sea from Pudukottai district, were on Thursday arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy when they went for fishing in the Palk Strait, officials said.
It was not immediately known whether they were fishing in Indian or Lankan waters, Joint Director of Fisheries, Phelomin Thiagarajan, told PTI over phone from Pudukottai district.
The fishermen from Jejadhapattinam in the district had ventured into the sea in five boats.
They were taken along with their boats to Karainagar Army camp and had been lodged there, Arulanandham, President of the Innocent Fishermen’s Association said.
The arrest comes a day after a Ramanathapuram court remanded for 15 days five Sri Lankan fishermen, arrested by the Coast Guard with their boat last week on charges of fishing in Indian territory.
Chief Minister Jayalalithaa had slammed the Centre for remaining a “mute spectator” on the frequent arrests of Indian fishermen by Sri Lankan Navy.
In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last month, she had said there was no concerted action on securing their release and sought his immediate intervention through diplomatic channels to secure the release of all fishermen from Tamil Nadu who are in Sri Lankan custody.
Her letter came in the wake of the arrest of 35 fishermen by the Lankan Navy.
Local mechanised boat fishermen had gone on protest voicing concern over continued incarceration of their colleagues in Lankan jails and demanded immediate steps by the Centre to set them free.
he year 2014 was a stellar one for spaceflight, what with ESA’s Rosetta mission putting a robotic lander on a distant comet and NASA successfully testing its Orion spacecraft.
But 2014 was also a great year for space photography, as you can see from these remarkable images (scroll down) picked for your viewing pleasure.
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Built on the island of Mannar by the Portuguese in 1560, it surrendered to the Dutch on 22 February 1658 and was rebuilt by the Dutch in 1696. On 5 October 1795 the Dutch surrendered to the British. The fort has four bastions and it’s still in good condition although the building inside the fort have not been properly maintained.
Two ships of the Indian Navy, INS Sujata and INS Tarangini and ICGS Varuna of the Indian Coast Guard arrived to Colombo yesterday (17th April).
A Colombo based diplomat’s panel has toured Mannar yesterday Saturday morning. On the invitation of Minister Risad Badihudeen the delegates panel visited the resettled Muslim people located at Talaimannar Biyar locality, held discussions heard people’s problems.
Vidataltivu Parish SSVP receives Tractor Bowser and trailer form National Council SSVP Sri Lanaka
