Navy fires on fishing boat

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 August 2002, 00:00 GMT]
Tamil fishermen were assaulted by Sri Lanka Navy personnel near Vettilaikerny and Kattaikkadulast on Friday, Tamil press reports said. A SLN Dvora gunboat also fired on their fishing boats, damaging one, the Uthayan newspaper reported Wednesday.

A fishing organisation has complained to international ceasefire monitors that some of its members were assaulted by Sri Lanka naval personnel last Friday while fishing in the seas near Vettilaikerny and Kattaikkadu.

The Thalaiyadi Fishermen's Union said that the attack was carried out at around 10.30 pm by navy personnel who arrived on the scene in a Dvora gunboat. One of the fishing boats also sustained minor damage from gunfire by the navy afterwards.

Representatives of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) visited Vettilaikkerny last Sunday in the wake if the complaint to conduct their own investigations, the Uthayan said. The Liberation Tigers’ representative on the SLMM team, Mr. Puliththevan helped the monitors with their investigation.



Meanwhile, a second complaint has been filed with the ceasefire monitors after a fisherman returning to shore after fishing was threatened by Sri Lanka naval personnel on Tuesday.

According to the complaint, the fisherman had been stopped and threatened on the shore on many previous occasions by navy personnel who had seized his catch of prawns. The latest threats came after the man finally refused to give up his catch.