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Colombo in touch with Male

B. Muralidhar Reddy

Awaiting reports on fishing trawler

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka Government is awaiting reports from the Maldivian Government on the sunk fishing trawler that was allegedly carrying weapons for the LTTE.

The Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry told The Hindu that Colombo was in touch with Male. "We have also noted reports from Tamil Nadu about resurfacing of some of the fishermen abducted by the LTTE and are waiting for more details."

The Defence Ministry reported that the Maldivian National Defence Force (MNDF) destroyed the 68-feet vessel. It said the trawler had now been identified as "Sri Krishna".

It said a coastguard boat pursued the trawler. When it reached the trawler, an occupant jumped overboard. The crewmember speaking in Malayalam had identified himself as a fisherman and told the coastguard that the trawler was smuggling arms and ammo for the LTTE.

Four more occupants were also rescued by the coastguard. "Suppose the evidence given by the first occupant is true, these four suspects should be the LTTE terrorists who had hijacked the fishing trawler and possibly murdered the 11 South Asian fishermen," said the Sri Lanka Defence Ministry.

It said "Sri Krishna" left Kodimunai-Kanyakumari for fishing on March 7. The boat reportedly had a crew of 12, comprising one from Kerala and 11 from Tamil Nadu. The boat had gone missing since March 12 from its last known position 30 nautical miles South East of Pamban Island.

Suspects

The Defence Ministry said on April 11, Indian coastguard seized a trawler named "Mariya" and two "Vallams" (small fishing boats) along with 12 suspects, in the Indian waters.

"Six of the suspects were positively identified as LTTE terrorists and the others were [identified] as Indian fishermen under the LTTE's captivity. As confessed by the arrested LTTE cadres, the 12 fishermen belonged to Sri Krishna had been held hostage by the LTTE terrorists in their Wanni den. However, the evidence given by the Indian fisherman rescued by the MDNF indicates that the 11 others belonged to Sri Krishna may possibly dead.",he Ministry said before all these incidents unravelled, "pro-LTTE political parties in Tamil Nadu engaged in a huge propaganda" campaign against Sri Lanka saying its navy was responsible for the missing fishermen. "These political parties not only mislead the aggrieved relatives of the missing fishermen but also exploited their emotions to carryout propaganda campaign to support the very same murderers of their loved ones".

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