Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Sunday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding action over attacks by the Sri Lankan Navy on Indian fishermen in the Palk Bay. "I request you to put in place a strong and robust diplomatic response and ensure that India registers the strongest disapproval of the belligerent actions of the Sri Lankan Navy.
Hitting hard on the previous UPA government's regime, Jayalalithaa requested the new government to "proactively initiate an appropriate and calibrated set of actions that will bring about a permanent end to the perennial problem that plagues the livelihoods of lakhs of Tamil Nadu fishermen who fish in their traditional fishing grounds in the Palk Bay, facing the daily threat of attack and abduction at the hands of the Sri Lankan Navy. This would be in sharp contrast to the passive and immobile policy paralysis that characterized the approach of the UPA Government for several years," she said.
She added that the people in Tamil Nadu had high expectations from the new NDA led government at the Centre. "I urge your personal intervention in the matter and request you to direct the Ministry of External Affairs to take up the matter with the Sri Lankan authorities in a concrete and decisive manner so as to secure the immediate release of 33 fishermen who were apprehended on 1st June, 2014, and their 7 fishing boats from Sri Lankan custody at the earliest," she wrote adding that she hoped that the firmness of India's response would ensure that such instances do not recur in the future.
On Sunday morning, 33 Indian fishermen and their seven boats were apprehended by the Lankan navy.
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