With the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin sending a message, EAM S Jaishankar stated that the Centre will take adequate steps in the concerned realm for the release of detained Indian fishermen in Sri Lanka.
Currently, 34 Indian fishermen are in judicial custody in Sri Lanka, and six have been convicted and are incarcerated, added Jaishankar. The minister conceded that the problem originated in an agreement that was entered between the Union Government and the State Government in 1974.
Jaishankar also stated that since the Narendra Modi-led NDA government assumed power for the last seven years, the government has attempted the necessary and interesting part involving the fishing people’s livelihood and humanitarian concerns.
Subsequently, such initiatives persist in their complex and diverse formats in which, according to him, the Government of Sri Lanka was involved, claiming that the safety and security of Indian fishermen are his top priority.
Before this, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister had written a letter to Jaishankar to help in the early release of all the fishermen with their boats from Sri Lanka. In his latest letter dated 25/06/2024, Stalin had brought to the notice that four fishermen of Tamil Nadu were nabbed by the Sri Lankan navy on 18/06/2024.
It involves itself not only with the sources of income of the fishermen but also switches the families of fishers and the whole coastal community into having a fearing attitude, Stalin had said.
This was stated by Jaishankar in retaliation to the Chief Minister’s growing insistence, which in turn shows how prepared the Indian Govt is to safeguard the interest and well-being of India’s fishing sector.
