Voicing her serious concern over increasing attacks on Tamil Nadu fishermen allegedly by the Sri Lankan navy, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Saturday said such assaults on Indian citizens should be viewed as "an act of provocation and aggression against India."
Jayalalithaa conveyed her sentiments to Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai, who called on her in Chennai ahead of his three-day Colombo visit beginning on Saturday.
"Incidents of apprehension and assault of fishermen belonging to Tamil Nadu by the Sri Lankan Navy should be viewed not as an assault on Tamil fishermen, but as an assault on Indian citizens and should be viewed as an act of provocation and aggression against India by Sri Lanka, similar to firing across the borders of India by neighbours such as Pakistan and China," she told Mathai.
Noting that 16 such incidents had taken place since May, she said the attacks should be viewed as a national issue and not an isolated problem of Tamil Nadu alone, a state government release quoting her said.
She said most incidents of detention and harassment have occurred off Ramanathapuram and Nagapattinam districts and that the Sri Lankan miscreants/fishermen have in the past one month taken away fishing implements and catch from Tamil Nadu fishermen, especially off Nagapattinam coast.
"As the boats sailing out of Sri Lanka are under the close surveillance of the Sri Lankan Navy, there is every likelihood that these incidents took place with the knowledge of the Sri Lankan Navy," she said, adding that Mathai should take up the matter with the Sri Lankan authorities during his visit there.
She also told him of the apprehensions of local fishermen that people who threatened them may actually be personnel of the Sri Lankan Navy in the guise of fishermen.
"The apprehensions assume significance due to the fact that the Sri Lankan miscreants who attacked Tamil Nadu fishermen were in small boats which are incapable of carrying enough diesel to take them to long distances," the release said.
While pressing for Indian fishermen's "traditional rights" to fish at the contentious Katchatheevu, an islet ceded to Sri Lanka by India, Jayalalithaa urged Mathai to take up the early resettlement of Tamils living in camps in the island nation.
"She also said Sri Lankan Tamils living in the camps should be resettled in their original places and that this should also be taken up with the Sri Lankan president and the government of Sri Lanka," the release added.
