A day after 26 fishermen from Tamil Nadu were taken away by the Sri Lankan navy personnel, another batch of 30 along with their five mechanized boats have been taken away by the island nation forces on Saturday.
Fishermen in around 532 boats ventured into the sea on Saturday. While they were in mid-sea, the Lankan navy personnel, who arrived there, surrounded the boats of Indian fishermen and detained five of them with 30 fishermen on board.
Earlier on March 13 a batch of 19 fishermen from Rameswaram along with their four boats were whisked away by the Lankan navy. They were lodged in the Vavuniya prison and were yet to be released. Following this, their colleagues in Rameswaram launched an indefinite strike from March 16 urging the government to take steps for the early release of 19 fishermen. However, the protesters called off the stir on April 1 and returned to the sea. Amidst these incidents, the Lankan navy on Sunday abducted another batch of 30 fishermen along with their five boats. All the 30 were produced before the Mannar court Judge, who issued an order to remand them till April 18. The fishermen were later sent to Anurathapura prison.
Five fishermen, including Augustus, Longlet and Prasath of Rameswaram, were detained by Lankan navy on the charge of drug smuggling case on November 28, 2011. Till date, the five fishermen have been incarcerated at Welikada prison . The State government is making all efforts to release the five fishermen. Since the efforts of the State Government were not equally supported by the Centre, the release of the five fishermen was getting delayed.