A series of brutal mid-sea attacks by assailants, suspected to be from Sri Lanka, has left fishers in Tamil Nadu seething with anger. The community has been searching for an end to the violence on the high seas, which has remained a threat to their lives and livelihood for about four decades now.
In recent months, Indian fishers venturing into the sea on small fibreglass boats have come under intermittent attacks. Strangely, the attackers have been unidentified persons in civilian clothes. Indian fishers say the assailants usually come on high-speed boats, hem in their fibreglass boats, and assault the fishers with wooden logs, iron rods and other weapons before snatching away their catch, expensive fishing gear, and navigational equipment.
In the latest attacks on August 21 and 22, groups of fishers from Nagapattinam district were assaulted and robbed while they were fishing about 15-22 nautical miles off the Vedaranyam coast. At least 15 of them needed hospitalisation. The assailants came in batches of six to 10 in two or more boats. In another incident, the fishing nets of four Indian fishers were wantonly damaged. A fisherman, who escaped with minor injuries, said the attacks mostly happen during nights after the fishers cast their nets so that they cannot flee quickly.
