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Can you fence the sea? By Chris
Kamalendran This has been
a common sight with little action being taken by the Sri Lankan
Navy and the fishermen in the area to prevent the entry of these
boats. But now the Indian fishermen find themselves fishing in troubled
waters, with local fishermen charging they are being deprived of
their livelihood. For more than two decades fishermen in the north
western coast of Mannar have been victims of intrusion by Indian
fishermen into Sri Lanka's territorial waters, but the protests
against these intrusions had been minimal due to the security situation
in the region. But the ceasefire
agreement between the government and the LTTE led to the relaxation
of the security in the region allowing more fishing by local fisherfolk.
"The Indian fishermen enter the area around 4.00 p.m. and remain
there until the early hours of the following day and return to their
country with a huge catch depriving the local fishing community
of their share," says M.Balasundraraja, President of the Mannar
Pier Fishermens’ Co-operative Society. Before the
ceasefire only about 12 lorries carrying fish used to travel daily
to the South, but now more than 60 lorries bring fish from Mannar
along the Mannar - Medawachchiya road which is open round the clock,
he said. Mr. Balasundraraja
also accused the the Indian boats of damaging the local fishermen's
nets and destroying the coral. "The fishing
nets used by the Indian fishermen are banned in India as it damages
their coral, but they use the same nets here," Mr. Balasundraraja
who has been campaigning for the rights of the local fishermen said.
He said in India, if such nets were detected the boat would be banned. The issue,
hitherto virtually ignored by both, the Sri Lankan and Indian government
has suddenly turned into a time bomb with local fishermen deciding
to take aggressive steps to prevent the Indian fishermen from intruding
into Sri Lanka's territorial waters. The confrontation
between the Sri Lankan and Indian fishermen was reported on Monday
when a group of local fishermen armed with iron rods surrounded
some 75 Indian fishermen and handed them over to the Police in the
presence of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission. About 17 Indian fishermen
were injured when the local fishermen allegedly beat them up with
iron rods. They were hospitalised while the others were remanded. The next day
42 fishermen were captured by the local fishermen and handed over
to the police. Soon diplomatic
moves were underway with Indian High Commission officials in Colombo
discussing the matter with the government which in turn informed
the Navy to keep the situation under control. The fishermen
were produced in Court, and remanded. But police
reportedly acting on orders from the top presented a motion in court
that the continued detention of the Indian fishermen could hamper
the current peace process and could also have repercussions on Sri
Lankan refugees in Tamil Nadu. They also said they had no facilities
to accommodate a large number of detainees and could not guarantee
their security in the wake of strong protests from the local fishermen
who have been calling on the government to take tough action to
prevent Indian fishermen intruding into local waters. When they
sought the court's permission to withdraw the case the judge agreed
and subsequently 91 of them were released while the others were
remanded. The issue has
already drawn protests from Indian fishermen in Tamil Nadu prompting
protests from politicians as well. Mr. Balasundraraja
said the problem has been aggravated by restrictions placed on Indian
fishermen in Tamil Nadu. The fishermen have to follow a token system
which allows them to fish only on alternate days. "The restrictions
on the Indians have been placed because there are too many fishermen
there. But as a result they are intruding into Sri Lanka's territorial waters depriving us of our livelihood," Mr. Balasundraraja charged. In the past
the Indian fishermen are alleged to have smuggled fuel and medicines
for the LTTE, but with the signing of the ceasefire agreement many
of the fishermen have been deprived of this side income forcing
them to concentrate only on fishing. The Sri Lankan
Navy says it is helpless due to lack of sufficient patrol crafts
and also the sensitivity of the issue. In the past there has been
a series of complaints against the Navy for cases of alleged harassment.
Mannar's District
Secretary V.Vishvalingam says the problem has been simmering for
sometime but had not been addressed properly either by the Indian
government or the Sri Lankan government. In the face of a major protests to be launched by fishermen tomorrow in Mannar, Mr. Vishvalingam has called on the fishermen to remain calm. until a solution was found. Lankans lost
at sea while Indians benefit "Soon after
the government signed the cease-fire agreement with the LTTE our
fishing co-operative society started providing fishing gear on loan
expecting that the fishermen would get a better catch and repay
the loans. But the fishermen have not been able to pay back due
to their livelihood being affected by Indian fishermen. We have
now stopped providing loans as they cannot pay back. The fishermen
are some times not even able to earn Rs. 300 a day due to the competition
from Indian fishermen'. We expected our fishermen to gain maximum benefit from the cease-fire, but instead our neighbours are benefiting from it. Earlier the Navy did not allow the Indian boats to come so close to the coast due to security reasons, but now the security has been relaxed and the Indians are benefitting from it." No livelihoods
only lies the oldest fishermen in Pesalai: "I have
been going to sea for the past 40 years. Earlier we did not have
too many difficulties with the Indians. But in recent times they
have been regularly encroaching our waters depriving us of our livelihood.
Every day we see more than 100 Indian trawlers engaging in fishing
close to our areas. They even come to the shore and pluck king-coconuts
and no action is taken against them. We are scared to resist them
as the lives of our relatives living in refugee camps in Tamil Nadu
could be at danger. Government officers, ministers and politicians regularly assure us that the problem will be resolved. But we have been left only with a heap of promises. All our lives we lived in cadjan huts. With the ceasefire we thought we could earn more and at least live in permanent homes. But our dreams have been shattered by the Indian fishermen. Trouble over fishermen goes to Indian parliament The issue of
over 100 Tamil Nadu fishermen being arrested by the Sri Lankan police
was raised by both the AIADMK and the DMK MPs in and outside the
Parliament on Thursday, Indian newspapers said. AIADMK MP P.
H. Pandian raised the issue in the Lok Sabha stating that Chief
Minister J. Jayalalithaa in a letter to Prime Minister Atal Behari
Vajpayee had asked him to intervene regarding the immediate release
of the fishermen. He also said
she had taken up the matter with the Indian High Commissioner in
Colombo. The AIADMK
MP was supported by the DMK MP A. K. S. Vijayan who
wanted the government to find a permanent solution to this problem,
the reports said. Meanwhile, a delegation of the DMK MPs also called on the Indian External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha to take up the issue with Sri Lankan authorities to find a permanent solution. They charged though many representations regarding such incidents had been made to the government even earlier no proper steps had been taken. "We have a strong feeling that the government is not paying appropriate attention to this issue," the DMK MPs were quoted as saying. |
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