Trinco Tamil fishermen complain of harassment by SLN

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 August 2003, 13:33 GMT]
Tamil fishermen in Trincomalee complain that the Sri Lanka Navy often harasses them in the Trincomalee seas. Some navy personnel who patrol the seas assault Tamil fishermen fishing within the stipulated area and chase them away, while allowing fishermen who use prohibited nets and dynamites for fishing, an official of a Tamil fisheries society in the eastern port town said.

One Tamil fisherman brought such an incident of attack to the notice of a conference held recently at the office of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission. A Sri Lanka Navy soldier in the sea had assaulted him while he was engaged in fishing within the stipulated area and he was chased out of the area.

The navy officer who was present at that conference told the complainant in the presence of the SLMM monitors to bring such instances to the notice of the Navy’s head office for prompt action, fisheries sources said.

Related Articles:
06.08.03   Trinco fishermen demonstrate to safeguard sea resource