File photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa at her Poes Garden residence in Chennai. (Press Trust of India)
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa has shot off another letter to the Centre, protesting another instance of arrest of Indian fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy, saying the "latest belligerent act" has added to the immense frustration "built up" among the state's fisherfolk.
In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi dated October 2, Ms Jayalalithaa said seven fishermen who set out from Nagapattinam district were arrested by the Lankan Navy on October 1. Their boat was also seized.
"This latest belligerent act of the Sri Lankan Navy perpetrated on innocent and unarmed Indian fishermen adds to the immense frustration that has built up among the fishermen of Tamil Nadu," she said in the letter, which was released to the media today.
Such repeated arrests of "innocent fishermen" were made with a motive to "intimidate and prevent" them from venturing into their traditional fishing waters in the Palk Bay which, she said, had always been a part of their traditional fishing area.
She urged Mr Modi to take immediate action through diplomatic channels to secure the release of 28 fishermen and 31 fishing boats from Sri Lanka.
Ms Jayalalithaa reiterated that her government "strongly believes that the unconstitutional Indo-Sri Lankan Agreements of 1974 and 1976 (ceding Katchatheevu islet) should be nullified and the traditional rights of our fishermen restored at the earliest."
She insisted that India should not treat the International Maritime Boundary Line with Sri Lanka as a settled question as the constitutionality of the agreements have been challenged by her in the Supreme Court on "extremely valid and legal grounds".
On Wednesday last, Ms Jayalalithaa had sent a letter to Mr Modi taking exception to the continued arrests of Indian fishermen by the Lankan Navy. She had said Colombo's "dubious actions" has resulted in the situation at sea remaining "precarious".