INDIAN FISHERMEN: ‘Killing to avenge Lanka’s WC loss’

By G Saravanan

Published in The New Indian Express, Chennai, on April 12, 2011:

Link:http://expressbuzz.com/states/tamilnadu/%E2%80%98killing-to-avenge-lanka%E2%80%99s-wc-loss%E2%80%99/264811.html

CHENNAI: Barely two weeks after Congress leader Sonia Gandhi ‘promised’ that there would be no more attacks on Tamil Nadu fishermen by the Lankan Navy, reports on Monday emerged that Lanka’s Navy allegedly killed four Rameswaram fishermen, missing since April 2.

“Our sources across the Palk Strait confirmed that it was brutal retaliation on innocent Tamil fishermen  by Lankan Navy, dejected over their nation’s defeat in the Cricket World Cup final against India,” Seethayin Maindan, coordinator of Katchatheevu Retrieval Movement, told Express.
Post 1983, it was a regular phenomenon that whenever Lanka lost a match against India or if India won matches against Pakistan or a nation friendly to Lanka, innocent persons fishing in Palk Bay were targeted, he added.
Victus, Anthonyraj, Johnpaul and Marimuthu - were missing on April 2 after they went fishing near Katchatheevu, close to the Lankan maritime boundary.

Meanwhile, a report from Palk Strait said that three bodies were washed ashore near the Jaffna coastline and one of them was identified to be of Victus, who went missing on April 2. 
“We strongly feel that these fishermen might have been killed by the Lankans, as Victus’s body had cut marks,” Seethayin Maindan said.  His body had 15 cut injuries and a few of them were quite deep, including one in his forehead, said sources. The theory gained ground as his body was not allowed to be sent back for final rites and was hurriedly buried in Jaffna.