Tamil Eelam Supporters Organisation protests against Sri Lankan detention of fishermen

The Tamil Eelam Supporters Organisation (TESO) on Wednesday held a demonstration in Chennai against the detention of fishermen by Sri Lankan authorities.

TESO, headed by Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) Chief M Karunanidhi, also reportedly urged the United Nations not to allow the President of Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapaksa, to address its General Assembly on September 25.

TESO demanded that since Rajapaksa had refused to allow the United Nations team seeking to investigate Sri Lanka's human rights record, he should not be allowed to address the United Nations General Assembly.

TESO also demanded that India should provide visas to United Nations delegates responsible for Human Rights Commission enquiry over Rajapaksa.

Tamils in Sri Lanka live in fear as the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa still considers them as refugees. Even today, no permanent solution for Tamils living in the northern province of the island country has been found.

India deployed troops in Sri Lanka's northeast in 1987 in a bid to end Tamil separatism. The troops ended up fighting the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and returned in March 1990 after losing nearly 1,200 men.

Meanwhile, DMK treasurer M.K. Stalin, while addressing the gathering of protesters, demanded that the fishermen and their boats held by Sri Lanka should immediately be released.

"The fishermen should be released and their boats should be released as well," said Stalin.

Yesterday morning, nine fishermen were arrested by Lankan naval personnel when they were returning from the Palk Strait.

Also, the Sri Lankan Navy on Tuesday allegedly sank an Indian fishing boat by colliding against it and arrested 15 fishermen from a coastal town in Tamil Nadu province.

Sri Lanka says poaching and illegal fishing by Indian fishermen depletes the catches of its own fishermen. The arrests have caused friction with Tamil Nadu and have become a sensitive issue in the region.