Rameswaram fishers associations begin hunger fast, demand Centre’s immediate intervention over arrests by Sri Lanka

Fishers from Thangachimadam and Rameswaramz, along with their families, began a hunger fast on Saturday, February 24, 2024.
| Photo Credit: L Balachander

Fishers from Thangachimadam and Rameswaramz, along with their families, commenced a relay hunger fast in protest against the arrests of fishermen by the Sri Lankan government, on Saturday, February 24, 2024.

Speaking to media persons, association members, said that the Sri Lankan government had jailed five of their fishermen, in two separate instances this month, sentencing them to prison terms of between six months and two years.

This has come as a big blow to the fisherfolk, said P Jesu Raja, a fishermen leader, adding that fishers have not ventured into the sea for the past eight days. “This will continue until the fishermen are released without conditions, and we are given an assurance that the Sri Lankan government will not sentence them to jail terms again, and release their boats as well,” he said. Even if it amounted to death due to starvation, the fishermen and their families were prepared to face this end, he said, on an emotional note, and appealed to the Union government to immediately intervene in this issue.

When the fishermen from coastal districts of Tamil Nadu continue to earn huge foreign exchange revenues through exports by their hard work, the government should not let them down, Mr. Jesu Raja said. “From time immemorial, the fishermen here have been fishing in the Palk Bay. This sudden and forceful action being taken by the Sri Lankan Navy is unacceptable,” he said.

Members of fisher families are grief stricken as five fishermen have been sentenced to jail terms in Sri Lanka
| Photo Credit:
L Balachander

At a time when Sri Lanka has been describing India as a friendly nation and has been seeking assistance, it was baffling to see them “throttling” the livelihoods of fishermen from Tamil Nadu, he pointed out, adding that the fishermen were eager to get back to work and were hoping for speedy action from the government.

A woman, Narmada, said that her husband has been jailed by the Sri Lankan court for six months. “ I have two children and they have been waiting to see their father for the past eight days. All the five arrested fishermen should be released forthwith. We don’t know, or have any other means of earning for our survival. Fishing is the only activity through which we can survive, and we appeal to the Union and Tamil Nadu governments to help us in this hour of crisis,” she said.

Cancellation of Katchatheevu festival

To further protest and express their disappointment over the jail terms awarded to members of their community, fisher families from Rameswaram, Thangachimadam, Mandapam and Dhanushkodi have stayed away from participating in the two-day annual St. Antony’s Church festival at Sri Lanka’s Katchatheevu islet.

A fishermen leader R. Sagayam said: “As the five fisher families were upset over the jail terms awarded, it wouldn’t be fair for others in the same hamlet to go to the festival. To express our solidarity, we have decided not to participate. We wish to go to the Katchatheevu next year,” he added.

The fishermen had also announced that they would hand over their identity cards such to the District Collector in Ramanathapuram. When they staged a march for this however, Collector B. Vishnu Chandran intercepted them and appealed to them to take up their issues with the Tamil Nadu government, following which the march was cancelled.