CHENNAI: Coast Guard faces fishermen's ire

By G Saravanan

Published in The New Indian Express, Chennai, on July 10, 2010:

A day after the Coast Guard eastern region commander accused the Tamil Nadu fishermen of straying into Lankan waters for fishing, as many as 60 communitymen under the banner of South Indian Fishermen Welfare Association (SIFWA) on Friday staged a demonstration against the coastal force asking them to be sensitive on such issues.

Tension prevailed for about an hour after 60 odd fishermen assembled in front of the gates of the Coast Guard's Eastern regional headquarters, the high security zone near Napier Bridge, and started shouting slogans against the "irresponsible statements" on fishermen by Coast Guard authorities.

"We have agitated at the Coast Guard headquarters just to express our protest against the coastal force and there was no justification in their saying that the fatal mid-sea incidents involving Lankan navy were only due to the faults of Tamil Nadu fishermen," K Bharathi, president of the association told Express.

Though police force were deployed, agitating fishermen left the venue only after shouting slogans condemning the Coast Guard's "irresponsible" behaviour.

Bharathi said, "Whenever Lankan fishermen strays into Indian waters, our Coast Guard never fires on them and only act on them on humanitarian basis. On the other hand, Lankan forces has the habit of attacking and torturing Indian fishermen first, and also damage their boats."

"Our main issue with the Coast Guard is why they always accuse the community for all the mid-sea fatal acts instead of openly condemning the Lankan forces for firing on fishermen," he said.

Fisherman while fishing on the tiny stretch between Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka could easily lost in streams towards the island nation, Bharathi contended and said that it was unintentional from their part.

Earlier during the LTTE era, whenever such shooting incidents took place, the Lankan forces had maintained that the fishermen were shot by the Tigers.

After the LTTE was decimated in 2009, there was a lull and in the recent months, such attacks has increased. On Thursday, a fisherman from Nagapattinam was killed in mid-sea encounter allegedly by the Lankan Navy.

These attacks are continuing despite an assurance by Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse that there would not be any shooting on Indian fishermen and trespassers would be dealt according to law.