23 Indian fishermen arrested in Sri Lanka

August 6th, 2009 Sri Lanka says new rebel leader arrestedCOLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka says that a wanted arms smuggler who recently took over as the new leader of the defeated Tamil Tiger rebels has been arrested overseas. Government information director Anusha Pelpita said that Selvarasa Pathmanathan was arrested Thursday in a foreign country which he refused to name.

April 16th, 2009 KARACHI - Twenty Indian fishermen who were arrested for allegedly fishing in Pakistani waters were Thursday jailed by a court here till April 28. The Indian fishermen were nabbed and their four boats - Poona Putra, Raj Mensi, Jal Ganga and Suneel Raj - were seized by the Maritime Security Agency on Monday, Geo TV reported.

April 11th, 2009 RAMESHWARAM - Indian Coast Guard officials handed over 34 Sri Lankan fishermen to the island's naval authorities here Saturday, an official said. The fishermen from southern Sri Lanka had trespassed into Indian waters and were arrested along with seven craft and a sizeable catch March 26.

April 5th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Indian fishermen inadvertently crossing over into Sri Lanka's territorial waters are sometimes subjected to harassment by the Sri Lankan Navy, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said here Sunday. He also said killing fishermen is not acceptable in any circumstances.

April 4th, 2009 CHENNAI - While the Sri Lankan Tamils' issue continues to be a hot topic in Tamil Nadu ahead of the parliamentary polls, efforts are on by authorities in the island nation and in India to solve the problem of fishermen trespassing into each other's territorial waters, sources said Saturday. Sri Lankan diplomatic sources indicated that 23 Indian Tamil fishermen who are being held in a prison in the island may be released very soon following representations by the Tamil Nadu government to free them quickly.

March 25th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Seventy four Indian fishermen were arrested after they strayed into Pakistani territory, authorities said Wednesday. Pakistan's Maritime Security Agency arrested 74 Indian fishermen in the southern port city of Karachi and confiscated 13 boats for violating sea territorial limits, Dawn TV channel quoted a MSA spokesman as saying.

March 19th, 2009 CHENNAI - Five Sri Lankan fishermen caught by the Indian Coast Guard off the Andhra Pradesh coast were remanded to two weeks in judicial custody here Wednesday, the police said. According to police sources, the Sri Lankans travelling by a fishing craft Jeya Sikuru01 were intercepted by a coast guard vessel in the early hours of Tuesday near Machlipatnam in Andhra Pradesh.

February 21st, 2009 COLOMBO - At least 10 Indian fishermen have been arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy, a naval official said Friday. The fishermen were arrested off the island's north-western coast of Thalaimannar.

February 19th, 2009 COLOMBO - At least 10 Indian fishermen have been arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy, a naval official said Friday. The fishermen were arrested off the island's north-western coast of Thalaimannar.

February 5th, 2009 RAMESHWARAM - Indian and Sri Lankan authorities Friday handed over to each other more than 20 fishermen who had strayed into their waters, the police said. While 22 Indian fishermen were handed over to coast guard officials earlier in the day, 21 liberated Sri Lankan fishermen are on their way home, police sources added.

February 5th, 2009 KARACHI - Fifty Indian fishermen have been arrested for encroaching into Pakistani waters, an official said. The maritime security agency officials arrested 50 Indian fishermen and took nine fishing-boats under control, Geo News reported Friday.

January 22nd, 2009 COLOMBO - Sri Lankan Navy has arrested at least 22 Indian fishermen with six boats while fishing illegally in Sri Lanka's northern sea waters off Kankesanthurai (KKS), official sources said here Friday. The sources told IANS that the Sri Lankan Navy has arrested these Indian fishermen trespassing into the Sri Lankan territorial waters late Thursday and handed them over to the KKS police for investigation.

January 18th, 2009 BHUJ - Seventeen Pakistani fishermen have been awaiting interrogation in this Gujarat city after they were caught for entering Indian waters at the Kori Creek last week. The fishermen, caught Thursday from the Kori Creek by the Coast Guard, are in the custody of the Narayan Sarovar Police Station and the police of the border district of Kutch have already interrogated them, police sources said Monday.

January 8th, 2009 RAMESHWARAM - Some Indian fishermen have alleged they were beaten up by Sri Lankan Navy personnel near the Kachchatheevu island in the early hours of Friday but there has been no official confirmation of the attack. 'We were fishing around Kachchatheevu island and the Lankan Navy suddenly surrounded us and beat us up.

January 6th, 2009 COLOMBO - Claiming that there was 'no dispute over Kachchathivu island', Sri Lanka Wednesday said that the island located in the Palk Strait off Rameshwaram belonged to the island nation according to the 1974-76 bilateral agreement between India and Sri Lanka. Responding to a question with regard to the notice issued by the Indian Supreme Court Monday instructing the Indian government to retrieve Kachchathivu, Sri Lanka's acting foreign secretary Prasad Kariyawasam said: 'It is purely a matter for Indian government to deal with and does not apply to Sri Lanka at all.' 'The sovereignty of Kachchathivu was settled with the 1974-76 bilateral agreement between India and Sri Lanka and accordingly it belongs to Sri Lanka.