IN JAFFNA RALLY, LANKAN PREZ FIRM ON STOPPING TN FISHERS

SRI LANKAN President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who addressed his first public meeting in Jaffna since coming to office in September, on Sunday took a firm stance against Indians "illegally" fishing in Sri Lankan waters.

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He also assured Tamils that their land occupied by the Sri Lankan government would be returned to them.

Dissanayake was in the city a day before the campaign for the Sri Lankan parliamentary elections, scheduled for Thursday, comes to an end to canvas votes for his Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) -led National People's Power (NPP) alliance. In a well-attended meeting, he said Indian fishermen were destroying the marine resources that belong to the Tamil-populated northern region of Sri Lanka.

Stating that his government will ensure that such exploitation of marine resources does not happen and will protect the rights of Sri Lankan fishermen, he asked "Should we not?" to which the crowd responded with a resounding yes.

His speech comes in the backdrop of the arrest of 23 fishermen from Rameswaram and detention of three Indian trawlers by the Sri Lankan Navy on Sunday for illegally fishing in Lankan waters. This is the latest in a series of arrests.

IN a letter to the union government on October 23, urging its intervention in the release of the fishermen, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin had pointed out that 128 fishermen and 199 boats were in Sri Lankan custody.