Karuna accuses SL navy of abducting 21 fishermen

Chennai, Sep 18 (PTI) Chief Minister of India's
southern state of Tamil Nadu M Karunanidhi Friday accused the
Sri Lankan navy of abducting 21 fishermen when they were
fishing near Katchatheevu, and demanded stern action from
Indian government to stop recurrence of such incidents.

He said over 400 boats, which went for fishing near
Katchatheevu, were on their way back to the Rameshwaram shore
when the Sri Lankan navy personnel attacked them on Wednesday.

"They (fishermen) were rounded up and assaulted by the
Sri Lankan naval boats which also damaged their nets and
equipment before abducting 21 of them," Karunanidhi alleged
during a conference of district collectors here.

The CM said such an "excess" by the Sri Lankan navy
was not for the first time and similar incidents had occurred
earlier also.

On some previous occasions the Centre had intervened
at the behest of the state government and rescued the
fishermen, besides holding multi-level talks with the Sri
Lankan navy on the issue, he claimed.

But, the promises made by the island nation's navy
were not lived up to and "at least now the Centre has to
initiate stern measures to put an end to this issue," he said.
PTI