Protest against Sri Lanka’s death penalty to Indian fishermen
Thursday, 6 November 2014 00:00
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Chennai (Reuters): Protesters, on November 05 took to streets in Chennai in southern Tamil Nadu state against the death penalty given to Indian fishermen in Sri Lanka.
Five Indian fishermen were arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy in 2011 on charges of smuggling drugs and on October 30, the Colombo High Court found the five fishermen guilty of drug trafficking.
The arrest of the Indian fishermen by the Sri Lankan navy has been a major topic of debate between the two nations.
A leader of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), GVL Narasimha Rao, assured that the federal government was committed to help fishermen facing death row in Sri Lanka.
“I think that the Indian Government is committed to helping fishermen who have been sentenced to life imprisonment in Sri Lanka. It’s an emotional issue in Tamil Nadu; the Indian ambassador to Sri Lanka has met the fishermen in prison yesterday in Colombo. I think the Government has assured all kinds of support. This is a legal issue, it will take some time,” said Rao in New Delhi.
Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayaram Jayalalithaa earlier wrote several letters to former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and present Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asking to pressurise Sri Lankan authorities to free fishermen detained in the country.
India shares an expansive oceanic border with Sri Lanka without any perceptible demarcation and fishermen on both sides ignore rules while netting their catch.
Fishermen from both countries frequently stray into each other’s territory and end up spending years in their jails.
Sri Lanka says poaching and illegal fishing by Indian fishermen depletes the catches of its own fishermen and the arrests have caused friction with Tamil Nadu.
