Fishers from Thangachimadam and Rameswaram, along with their families, commenced a relay hunger fast in protest against the arrests of fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy, on Saturday, February 24, 2024.
Speaking to media persons, association members said the Sri Lankan government had jailed five of their fishermen, in two separate instances this month, sentencing them to prison terms extending between six months and two years.
This has come as a big blow to the fisherfolk, said P. Jesu Raja, a fishermen leader, adding that fishers had not ventured into the sea for the past eight days. “This will continue until the fishermen are released without conditions, and we are given an assurance that the Sri Lankan government will not sentence them to jail terms again, and release their boats as well,” he said. Even if it amounted to death due to starvation, the fishermen and their families were prepared to face that end, he said and appealed to the Centre to immediately intervene in this issue.
