Jaffna politician and DMK behind abduction of Indian fishermen

The recent rounding up of 136 Tamil Nadu fishermen in Sri Lankan waters off Point Pedro and Maadakal had not served as a deterrent to intrusions, according to Rev Fr Ananda Kumar, the parish priest of Maadakal, who is working closely with the fishing community there.

“On Monday, for example, 50 trawlers were sighted off Maadakal itself,” he pointed out. The priest said he did not approve of Jaffna fishermen taking the law into their hands and abducting TN fishermen. “When they came to me saying that they had forced the TNfishers to come ashore, I castigated and asked them to promptly hand the captured men over to the police,” he said.

Abductions politically instigated Asked if the Lankan navy had instigated or aided the Jaffna fishermen in their adventure, Fr Ananda Kumar said the navy had no part in it, but a powerful Jaffna political leader and the DMK had been behind the moves. He declined to name the Jaffna leader.

“On the TN side, the incidents helped the DMK beat its political rivals and emerge as the champion of fishermen ahead of the State Assembly elections, and on the Jaffna side, they helped the political leader cosy up to the DMK government.”

“This leader needs the help of the DMK government to face a long pending criminal case against him in TN.” “The fishermen on both sides had become pawns in the hands of politicians,” Fr Ananda Kumar said. (Expressbuzz)