The Plight of TN fishermen

Last month one issue was making news in almost all Tamil dailies and its seriousness was such that even channels like NDTV,CNN-IBN and Headlines Today telecasted that news.What so special in news channels telecasting a news?Generally these news channels will not give any importance to issues related to TN.If they have to give importance means,it should have some special qualifications like historical corruption,biggest corruption in the history of man-kind(1.76lakh crore) etc.. Other than this they will allot special slots to telecast some news items about Rajnikanth.Most of these channels think that Tamil Nadu means only Rajni.These channels itself showed the seriousness of this particular issue.Yes its all about the miseries of Tamil Nadu fishermen.

Media reports say that the TN fishermen are constantly being harassed by the Lankan Navy for the more than 2-3 decades.But this issue is getting its focus in the media only now.Last month,2 incidents of TN fishermen being killed by the Lankan Navy,took place, within a span of 10 days.The opposition parties started protesting strongly for these killings.Within 3 months elections are due in TN,so now the issue is getting publicity(not importance).This time the honorable Chief Minister of TN,Mr.Karunanidhi,expressed his dissatisfaction and displeasure over these incidents,in person,to Mr.Pranab Mukherjee,the Finance Minister of India.Now you don't think that Kalaignar went to Pranab's residence,Pranab visited Kalaignar for some reason and at that time he has conveyed this to him.For seat sharing,power-sharing,bargaining portfolios for his family members,Kalaignar will go to Delhi and will return back successfully.If its issues related to fishermen,Lankan Tamils or Indian Tamils :D,he will write letter to Central govt.Not to forget his fasting which ended before the lunch timing.

My question is,anyway he is going to just write a letter or just going to have a formal conversation regarding this issue.Why can't he have the same with the Prime Minister,Home Minister or External Affairs Minister. In what way finance minister is related to this issue?Anyway this is something which only the DMK-Congress duo can explain.

Why the Lankan Navy is killing Indian(Tamil) Fishermen?

The Lankan Navy gives the reason that the Indian fishermen cross the Indian boundaries and enter into Lankan waters and catch valuable fishes.Its true.The TN fishermen enter into the Lankan waters and they catch valuable fishes.But why?In Indian waters they couldn't find the valuable fishes and only in Lankan waters they can get valuable fishes and prawns etc.This info was given by a fisherman (to Indian Express dated 4th or 5th feb).

Now you can say its a mistake of Indian fishermen to go into Lankan boundaries.A small recap of history.It was in the year 1974,when Mrs.Indira Gandhi was the PM,the Katchatheevu island was handed over to Lanka.The then minister of External Affairs,Mr.Swaran Singh,stated that there have been no inhabitants in Katchatheevu and they will cede it to SriLanka inorder to maintain friendly relationship with it.If there are no inhabitants means,is it right to cede our land to other nations?Being a central minister/Prime minister doesn't mean that he/she owns all the lands of this nation.None was consulted in this issue and it was a meek surrender to SriLanka.After this the minister also uttered a statement that,the rights of Indian fishermen, to go around Katchatheevu to catch fishes, will be protected.This is the Katchatheevu agreement(a long article can be written about Katchatheevu alone,but let me stop with this,as now the readers might get an idea about this agreement).

Now if the Indian fishermen enter into Lankan territories they are being killed by the Lankan Navy.Even if they are going to produce legal documents that fishing in their territory is an offense,they don't have any right to kill the fishermen.Are they not human beings?Don't they have families?Will their death not leave their families into deep grief?Is this not human rights violation?

When Vaiko met Manmohan Singh regarding this issue,PM told him that even Gujarat fishermen are being punished by the Pakistan navy.Vaiko rightly pointed out that Gujarat fishermen are being arrested and the Pakistan navy don't kill them.How clever this PM is na? The fishermen also stated that the Lankan Navy has seized their valuable nets for fishing in their territory and they have killed more than 500 fishermen till now. 

The latest case is that a fisherman was strangulated to death and two others harassed allegedly by the Sri Lankan Naval personnel while they were fishing.Doesn't this show the cruel nature of Lankans(Sinhalese)? Now when Indian govt condemned this,the Lankan Navy says they will not repeat this.What a careless attitude!!!.Later on the Lankan govt denied these accusations and told that the Lankan Navy was not present in that area.Then who killed these fishermen?LTTE?If you are going to give an answer as LTTE,then it will be like a self mockery(Sinhalese might also give such an answer,they r intelligents :D :P).Because the same Lankan govt claims that they wiped off the entire LTTE forces(infact they have almost wiped of the entire Tamil Race),so this answer is rejected.What else they are going to answer?They will not give any answer,because all this protests and cries will calm down after elections.

Interestingly the national parties,both the congress and BJP are giving statements related to this issue continuously in recent times.S M Krishna,the External Affairs Minister of India,has condemned the attacks on Indian fishermen and he also urged the Lankan govt.,not to upset the ties(I think he was mentioning about the Congress-DMK ties).This same S M Krishna,few months back,strictly announced that the govt will not protect the fishermen,who illegally cross the Indian boundaries and enter into Lankan region.Then for whom you are made as a minister Mr.Krishna?If the govt can't protect its own citizens means,whats the point in remaining in power?Quit and go.PM as usual,is a mute spectator.Sonia,the power behind the UPA,is busy in maintaining alliances.Home minister(he is from TN) is relaxing.TN Chief Minister has bigger problems as elections are fast approaching.

The Leader of Opposition in Lok-Sabha,Sushma Swaraj(BJP) has visited the TN fishermen and their families. She told that the regional parties should have made this a national issue,but the failed to do so.She has also promised to raise this issue in Parliament in the upcoming budget session.The BJP was in power for 6 years, the bitter truth is,they too didn't take necessary measures to stop these killings.But atleast now,if she raises this issue in Parliament with a will to find a solution for this problem,then everyone will be happy.BJP didn't have enough MPs from TN and the alliance(which again was DMK for 5 yrs and ADMK for 13 months) too didn't give any pressure to their govt regarding this issue.But these are all lame excuses,former PM Mr.Vajpayee, while ceding Katchatheevu to Lanka, claimed that Katchatheevu was the place where Lord Rama fought with Vaali and he told that the original name of the island is Vaalideep.Even he didn't find a solution for this problem(disappointing).Let us see how far,Mrs.Swaraj goes in this issue.

The only solution for this issue is to scrap the agreement and Katchatheevu should be retrieved and the Indian fishermen should be given the right to catch fishes in and around the island.Will this happen?