A conflicting situation has arisen in north-western seas of Sri Lanka off Palk strait. This situation has been created due to the poaching of Indian fishing vessels into the Sri Lankan territorial waters for fishing. To be specific the exact area is the place between port of Ramaneshwaran in Southern India and Bay of Mannar in Northern Sri Lanka. Due to the Ceasefire Agreement which is in force at present Sri Lanka Navy does not patrol the sea in this area and does not restrict fishermen’s access to the seas.
However the relaxation of restrictions by the Sri Lankan Navy (because of the Ceasefire Agreement and non existence of fighting) now resulted in penetration of Indian fishermen into Sri Lankan seas. Earlier when this part of the Sri Lankan territorial waters had been declared a restricted area no fishermen from Sri Lanka or India entered it.
In the absence of Sri Lankan Navy, at present Indian fishermen come in numbers - hundreds and deprive Sri Lankan fishermen of any fishing in these waters of the island, when they are present.
Not only that Indian fishermen attack any Sri Lankan fishermen whom they sight by throwing acid, and stabbing them with knives. Thereafter they steal the fishing gear belonging to the Sri Lankan fishermen and escape to Indian waters.
In many occasions when Sri Lankan fishermen are found to be fishing in territorial waters of Sri Lanka in this area Indian fishermen push them to the sea and drag their boats to Indian waters. Sometimes Sri Lankan fishermen’s fishing nets are dragged by the Indian fishermen and move away to Indian waters.
Most of the fishermen from the Northern Province of Sri Lanka and North Western Province of Sri Lanka are innocent rural folk who take up fishing due to non availability of any other trade for them. These people are scared of Indian fishermen and now the situation is such that Sri Lankan fishermen do not go to seas in the above area if they sight Indian fishermen in their boats in the seas, because they know that they are bound to lose their boats and other fishing gear. On the other hand, Indian fishermen come in larger boats and Sri Lankan fishermen who have only small fishing boats are no match to them. Also Sri Lankan fishermen say that they do not wish to resort to the ways used by Indian fishermen to attack them, at all.
At present, Sri Lanka lacks a good Coast Guard service and functions of coast guards are performed by Sri Lankan Navy whenever necessary. However due to the fact that Sri Lankan Navy from time to time has other duties/functions due to the tense situation in the island, what they can do in this regard is limited.
Establishing a strong Sri Lanka Coast Guard
The Indian Coast Guard vessels do not interfere in the above situations and due to this, the Indian fishermen who poach into Sri Lankan waters have a free run over Sri Lankan fishermen. The best way to handle this situation is by establishing a strong, well-equipped Sri Lanka Coast Guard, taking into account that Sri Lanka is an island.
Since India and Sri Lanka are two historical nations having very strong bonds, this issue should not be allowed to be a strain on the bilateral and people to people relations as existed for thousands of years.
Rohan Wickremasinghe,
Colombo 09.
(http://www.island.lk/2004/09/15/opinion4.html)
