Protests persists in Chennai over derogatory article on Lankan website

Monday, 18 August 2014 12:24 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Reuters: Workers of regional party in India’s southern Tamil Nadu state Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK), on Sunday (August 17), staged a protest over derogatory article published on Sri Lanka’s defence ministry website about state chief Jayaram Jayalalithaa and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. An article titled: ‘How meaningful are Jayalalithaa’s love letters to Narendra Modi’ had appeared on Sri Lankan defence ministry website with pictures of Jayalalithaa dreaming about Indian PM Modi. The headline and illustration referred to Jayalalithaa writing many letters to Modi regarding the frequent arrests of Tamil Nadu fishermen by the Sri Lankan navy. However, the article was later removed from the website and Sri Lanka also tendered an apology. On Sunday, protesters demanded that India should boycott the defence meet scheduled to be held in Sri Lanka from August 18 to August 20. “Starting from tomorrow, India should not take part in the meeting that will take place on 18th, 19th and 20th. No leaders from India should go and get embarrassed. This is the main reason for our protest,” said NTK chief, Seeman. Setting aside their differences, political parties in Tamil Nadu had strongly backed Jayalalithaa over the issue. Fishermen in Tamil Nadu have been constantly fighting to demand safety from the government. However, Sri Lanka claims poaching and illegal fishing by Indian fishermen depletes the catches of its own fishermen.

Sri Lanka, India ministerial level talks on fisheries issue on 29 August

Officials from the Governments of Sri Lanka, India and Indian state of Tamil Nadu will meet in New Delhi on 29 August to hold a round of official level talks to find a solution to the nagging fishermen’s issue. The officials will meet to discuss sustainable methods of fishing in the waters between Sri Lanka and India. The two countries are expected to find an amicable solution to the thorny issues of fishermen from both countries crossing into each other’s territorial waters and subsequent arrests of the fishermen by the authorities on both sides. The spokesman of Ministry of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Narendra Rajapaksa has said that Director General of Fisheries Nimal Hettiarachchi, Advisor to the Minister Dr. S. Subasinghe and Additional Solicitor General Suhada Gamlath will participate in the discussions. The two countries held ministerial level talks on the issue in January this year. Following the ministerial level talks on the fishermen issue, representatives of the fishermen’s associations in Sri Lanka and India met on two occasions, first on 20 January in Chennai and later on 12 May in Colombo to iron out a solution among themselves to share the resources in the seas between the two countries. However, the second round of discussions ended without reaching any agreements.