Eelam Tamil fisherman call on China to resolve fishing disputes
Tamil fishermen from Vadamarachchi, Jaffna have taken to streets to call on China to resolve fishing disputes in the Indian Ocean.
31 January 2022
Demonstrators complained against disruptive practices which they note have damaged their fishing nets and have called for other fishermen to abstain for fishing for a day in protest.
The appeal to China follows increasing Sri Lankan military encroachment onto Tamil fishing areas as well as brutality towards local fishermen. This month saw protests in Jaffna following the death of a prominent Tamil activist, Edward Mariyaseelan, who was killed when a Sri Lankan navy vessel rammed into his fishing boat.
Read more here: Anger in Jaffna after leading Tamil protestor killed by Sri Lankan navy
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Tamil Nadu fishermen have also been victims to the violence of the Sri Lankan navy being regularly detained en-mass and subject to abusive treatment. Earlier this month Sri Lankan courts maintained the detention of 43 Tamil Nadu fishermen. In October, villagers in Kottaipattinam, Tamil Nadu, staged a sit-in protest for several days demanding the return of two Tamil fishermen captured by the Sri Lankan Navy, as well as the corpse of Rajkiran.
“We have seen pictures of the body. This is not what a person looks like if they drown. The Sri Lankans have given him acid and tortured him. That’s why his body has swelled up. We want answers from the government” said the leader of Kottaipattinam’s Fishermen Association’s Chinnaadaikalam.
Read more here: ‘Return our boys’- Tamil Nadu villagers demand the return of dead fishermen captured by Sri Lankan navy
Tamil politicians have long complained against the abusive treatment by Sri Lanka’s Navy with TNA politician, M.A Sumanthiran highlighting the issue of ongoing land grabs and criticising Fisheries Minister Douglas Devananda for attempting to provoke violence amongst fishermen of the two countries.
Despite the rising tensions, in October the Federation of Jaffna District Fishermen’s Cooperative Society Unions told the Hindu:
“Despite our disagreement with our brothers in Tamil Nadu, we have always been in solidarity. We have relied only on dialogue and never resorted to violence. We fear that certain political forces are instigating some groups to carry out these attacks.”
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Faced with a continued failure to resolve these disputes, Tamil fishermen have turned to appeal to the Chinese government. This follows a historic visit by China’s ambassador visited Jaffna and Mannar and spoke to fishermen from both communities.
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