The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Jayalalithaa condemns Sri Lanka’s move

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Monday, Mar 23, 2009
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Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Jayalalithaa condemns Sri Lanka’s move

Special Correspondent

To declare Katchatheevu “sacred area”

CHENNAI: Condemning a statement by a Sri Lankan Minister that the Katchatheevu would be declared a “sacred area,” AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa has asked the Central and State governments to take action to protect the rights of Indian fishermen.

“The Sri Lankan Minister Dinesh Gunawardene has announced this only in the knowledge that a person who had not opposed the giving of arms and training to the Sri Lankan army by the Central government for killing Tamils, is the present Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu,” she said.

In a press release issued on Sunday, Ms. Jayalalithaa said the Sri Lankan government had steadily worked towards alienating the traditional rights of Indian fishermen to visit the island and fish in nearby areas. The rights of Indian fishermen to visit St. Anthony’s shrine in the island had also been restricted, but the State government had not taken any action on these issues.

She said that she had asked for the annulment of the 1974 accord between the two countries and also to allow Indian fishermen a “lease in perpetuity” to carry out fishing near the island, but these had not been implemented. The government had not even filed a suitable reply to her writ petition in the Supreme Court asking for the annulment of the accord.

Ms. Jayalalithaa said the silence of both the Central and State governments on the issue was condemnable.

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