It is a shame to India as she is unable to contain the atrocities on Indian fishermen and control Sri Lankan Navy on Indian territorial water. The incidence of shooting, brutal attack, damaging boat and net, throwing catches back to sea, arresting in mid sea and jailing in Thalai Mannar prison, releasing after Indian Government’s intervention are becoming frequent happenings and agitation, calling strike and fasting by the fishing folks have become routine in the southern districts of Tamil Nadu. Every fisher man is scared of attack or shooting on them by Sri Lankan Navy personnel. This sort of happenings, recurring very frequently in last 2 years, especially after Sri Lankan Government wiped out LTTE from their soil, are widely spoken by Tamil community and highlighted by politicians and media.

There are two reasons to discuss here. Firstly these Tamil Nadu fishermen helped LTTE while the organization is at its peak activities by transporting cloth, medicine, petrol and other engineering goods from Tamil Nadu and handed over to them in mid sea. Therefore, the Sri Lanka Government has vengeance on Tamil fishermen and unleashes atrocities on them. Secondly Indian Government is averse to Tamil Tigers and banned their LTTE movement in India. The liberation movement in Northern Sri Lank, Jaffna and driven away ordinary people as refugee to India and the burdened the Government to feed them. The tigers removed then Indian Prime Minister Sri.Rajiv Gandhi by bomb blast in Tamil Nadu. The Tamil fishermen helped the tigers in all possible ways. All these reasons made the Congress to hate the fishermen which resulted no concern on them and do not bother about the happenings in sea. The regional parties though pass resolutions for the fishermen in their meeting are helpless to coerce the central Government to stop the atrocities by Sri Lankan Navy.

Then what is the solution? Does the fisherman have to undergo all sufferings infinitely? Who will solve their problems? Either the fishermen must arm themselves to counter the Sri Lankan Navy or find out some other job for their livelihood. The Indian Government if wants to protect the fishermen then has to send Indian Navy ships to guard the fishermen while they fishing near the international water line and stop them crossing Indian maritime border. The patrol boats must be pressed into service along the international water line to watch and ward the fishing folks not to enter into Sri Lankan territorial waters. This can happen only if the regional parties with the support of opposition parties bring a bill in Parliament and see it is passed. Otherwise the sufferings of Tamil fishermen would never end and their families should try to live without their family heads and sons.

The Indian Government can easily solve this fishermen issue by bilateral discussion with the Sri Lankan Government because the Indian Government is sending aids to Sri Lanka for the reconstruction of displaced Tamil destitute. When US Government shows lot of concern for a single American when undergoes ordeal in any country, it sends its missionaries in support of them and solve the issue quickly but why not the mighty Indian Government, because the government’s carelessness and unconcern over the fishing folks and its discrimination on Tamil fishermen.

V.Natarajan