Sri Lankan Navy attacks fishermen
Sri Lankan Navy (SLN), over the last two days, beat, tortured and abducted four fishermen in the Jaffna and Mannar seas. Two fishermen are missing and one was killed by drowning following the attack.
Jaffna After getting permission from the Sri Lankan Navy personnel on the shore, Krishnapillai Chandramohan (28) and Thevamani Arul (30), along with several other fishermen, went for their daily fishing in the Jaffna seas on Friday, 30 June at Thondamanaru. At about 10.30 pm, two SLN Dvora boats approached Chandramohan and Arul’s boat. Fellow fishermen saw the SLN men set the boat on fire. After this, the SLN chased other fishermen back to the shore and cut their nets. Chandramohan and Arul remain missing. Several boats and equipment worth millions of rupees were destroyed by the SLN. These were given to the fishermen by international and local NGOs afther they lost all their equipment in the Boxing Day tsunami. The President of the Fishermen’s Consortium of Jaffna, Thavaratnam confirmed that the SLN attacked fishermen’s boats in the seas off of Thondamanaru. The President of the Vadamaradchi Northern Fisheries Consortium, Sooriyakumar stated, “SLN brutally attacked fishermen who were fishing in the Northern seas. Fishing boats and equipment on the shores of Polikandi, Aathikovilady, and Thondamanaru were destroyed by the SLN.” The Vadamaradchi Northern Fisheries Consortium issued complaints to SLMM. Complaints were also lodged with the Sri Lankan Human Rights Commission in Jaffna. The Sri Lankan military has reported that the Navy sank one LTTE boat in the Northern seas on the night of Friday, 30 June. Mannar Fishermen in about 15 boats set out to sea off of Karisilpadu, Pesalai on Saturday, 1 July at 10.00 am. At this time three SLN Dvora boats surrounded the fishermen. The fishermen showed their passes, but the SLN proceeded to assault the fishermen. Fisherman Ibrahim Azeeq (34) begged the SLN not to pull him into the sea because he did not know to swim. The SLN ignored his plea and forced him under the water. As Azeeq was in the water, he held on to his boat to save his life, but the SLN beat his hands, forcing him to let go of his boat. Azeeq died by drowning in the sea. The other fisherman, Mohammed Fahim (27), was also thrown into the sea. As he was swimming back to shore, the SLN dragged him into SLN boat, tied a rope to him and connected the rope to the Fahim’s boat. The SLN threw him back into the water and forced him to swim to shore, dragging his boat with him.
02 July 2006
|
Europe which has a total population of 800 million is made up of 45 language based nation states. South Asia which has a total population of one billion, (1000 million) is comprised of four states. Who is preventing and therefore benefiting by limiting new nation-states in South Asia?
Print this
Email this
more
