AIADMK raises pitch to free Karaikal fishermen from SL

The massive demonstration by AIADMK here on Thursday for the release of the jailed fishermen in Lanka has once again proved that Chief Minister and AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa is keen in the championing the cause of the coastal community.

The massive demonstration by AIADMK here on Thursday for the release of the jailed fishermen in Lanka has once again proved that Chief Minister and AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa is keen in the championing the cause of the coastal community.

Jayalalithaa was the first leader to visit Pushapavanam, fishing hamlet in Nagapattinam district after a fisherman was killed in the Lankan Navy attack in 2011 and console the grieving family members. A couple of days ago, the AIADMK leader announced the Karaikal agitation to show her solidarity with the worried family of a group of fishermen, who had been jailed in Lanka.

The protest was also organised to condemn the slackness being shown by both Central and Union territory governments in putting an end to the atrocities meted out by the Lankan navy to Karaikal fishermen.

Highlighting  these issues, a massive protest, on the orders of AIADMK leader J Jayalalithaa, was staged by party cadre in front of the collectorate here on Thursday. The protesters, while listing the host of welfare schemes implemented for the fishing community by the AIADMK government in TN condemned the anti-fishermen stand of the UT government. The protesters criticised the ruling party, AINRC,  for keeping mum on the issue and questioned whether any genuine efforts were being made to redress grievances of fishermen.

Pointing out that as many as 16 Karaikal fishermen were still languishing in Lankan prisons since July 30, the AIADMK cadre flayed the UPA government for turning a deaf ear to the fishing community’s problems.

Addressing the gathering, K K Kalaimani, AIADMK’S Fishermen Wing Secretary said, it was the persistent efforts of TN Chief Minister J Jayalailthaa that the Centre took steps and secured the release of 13 Karaikal fishermen.” Though Jayalalithaa had written 26 letters to the PM stressing the need to convene talks between Indian and Lankan fishermen, the Centre was yet to respond to her suggestions, he said.

Slamming the DMK chief M Karunanidhi for not opposing the 1974 pact ceding the Katchatheevu islet to the island nation, the demonstrators expressed the hope that the AIADMK leader would legally retrieve the islet from Sri Lanka.

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