When Indian Coast Guard apprehends SL fishermen, they are treated with dignity & looked after well; boats are guarded!But that is not the case to US!

Indian Coast Guard seizes 13 Lankan boats;
68 fishermen arrested 29 November 2009, CHENNAI: Indian Coast Guard authorities on Thursday and Friday seized 13 Sri Lankan boats and arrested 68 fishermen for fishing in India’s exclusive
economic zone (EEZ). The fishermen with their boats were brought to the Kasimedu fishing harbour on Saturday and handed over to the harbour police for further investigation. They will be remanded in custody.

Chief public relations officer of the coast guard, commander Rajendra Nath, told reporters at the Kasimedu harbour that as part of coordinated sea and air patrol, coast guard aircraft from Chennai deployed for coastal reconnaissance had sighted a flotilla of Lankan fishing boats in Indian waters, off the coast of north Tamil Nadu and south Andhra Pradesh. The aircraft informed the Indian Coast Guard ship ICGS Vikram, which reached the area and apprehended the fishermen. The boats were fitted with the global positioning system (GPS) as well as long-range high frequency sets.

"The boats were fishing in Indian territorial waters 150 nautical miles from Tamil Nadu; 6,600 kilograms of fish were seized from the fishermen,’’ Nath said. He pointed out that the coast guard had in the past six months seized 69 Sri Lankan fishing boats and apprehended 359 Lankan fishermen, and 106 boats and 553 Lankan fishermen from January. The coast guard and other security agencies had repatriated 547 fishermen and sent 130 boats to Sri Lanka. Forty Lankan boats remain at the Kasimedu harbour.

"Preliminary interrogation reveals that they had no links with terrorist activity and were only fishing in our waters," said Nath.

The fishermen who spoke to reporters said that they had strayed into Indian waters and appealed that they be sent back to Sri Lanka soon.

Said C Simon, a fishermen in Kasimedu: "When the Indian Coast Guard apprehends Sri Lankan fishermen, they are treated with dignity and looked after well; even their boats are guarded by our policemen. But that is not the case when we are caught in Sri Lankan waters. We are beaten up badly and there is no history of any of our boats being sent back.’’


(Times of India)

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