NAGAPATTINAM: Another Tamil Nadu fisherman was killed in a brutal manner on Saturday night by the Sri Lankan Navy off Vedaranyam coast in Nagapattinam district of Tamil Nadu.
This time though, a young fisherman was dragged into the sea with a rope tied around his neck by the Lankan naval personnel. Only 10 days ago, another young fisherman had been killed mid-sea by Lankan naval personnel.
State fisheries department officials said N Jayakumar (27), his brother A Senthil (25) and A Rajendran (55), all from Pushpavanam village had ventured into the sea on Saturday morning in a fibre boat.
They had cast their net in the evening and were fishing south east of Kodiakkarai coast when a Sri Lankan naval vessel approached them around 11 pm. The Lankan naval personnel ordered the fishermen to jump into the sea. Rajendran and Senthil jumped immediately. But Jayakumar hesitated as he had lost two fingers in his right arm during the 2004 tsunami making it difficult for him to swim in the sea. Even as he was pleading with the Sri Lankan naval personnel, they entered his boat, tied a rope around his neck and pushed him into the sea. “Holding the other end of the rope in their boat, the Lankan naval personnel had dragged him for a while in the sea. Later they had asked the other two fishermen to take Jayakumar into the boat and left the place,” a fisheries official told TOI.
By the time Rajendran and Senthil pulled Jayakumar into the boat, he was found dead. S Vivekandanthan, assistant director (marine), department of fisheries said they were waiting for the postmortem examination report.
“According to the fishermen, Jayakumar was thrown into the sea with a rope tied around his neck and was drowned to death,” he said.
Meanwhile, in Chennai, Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, who called on chief minister M Karunanidhi on Sunday morning, told reporters that he would take up the matter with the external affairs ministry.
“We have been helping the Sri Lankan government. There is no justification for what they are doing. If our fishermen have done anything wrong, there is a due procedure,” he told reporters after the meeting Karunanaidhi at his residence in Chennai. (Read: Pranab asks Lankan navy to desist shooting Indian fishermen)
RMP Rajendran Nattar, district president of Indian National Fishermen Trade Union said that it has been a regular practice of Sri Lankan navy to throw fishermen into the sea if they refuse to part with their fish catch. Only on January 12, a fisherman from Jagathapattinam in Pudukottai was shot dead by the Lankan Navy.
Read more: Another Tamil Nadu fisherman brutally killed by Lankan Navy – The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Another-Tamil-Nadu-fisherman-brutally-killed-by-Lankan-Navy/articleshow/7346356.cms#ixzz1BqMRRnRQ
