TN BJP chief Annamalai seeks govt intervention in Sri Lankan pirates' attack on fishermen

Tamil Nadu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief K Annamalai on Thursday sought the intervention of Foreign Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in the February 14 incident where six fishermen from Nambiar Nagar fishing village of the state's Nagapattinam were allegedly robbed and attacked with sharp knives by the Sri Lankan Pirates.

In his letter to the Foreign Minister, the Tamil Nadu BJP chief said, "Thiru Murugan and six other fishermen from Nagapatinam were attacked mercilessly by a few people traveling in 4 Sri Lankan boats. Thiru Murugan's fingers were chopped, and the belongings of these fishermen worth Rs. 5 Lakh were robbed by those culprits."

He further urged Jaishankar's intervention in the matter and stated that the Sri Lankan government needs to be nudged to identify the people involved in the aforesaid incident.

Seeking punishment for the ones involved in the act, he also asked for the retrieval of the fishermen's belongings from the possession of the accused persons.

It is pertinent to mention that the cases of attack by the Sri Lanka pirates have been on the rise for the last six months as an aftermath of the recent economic slowdown in the neighboring country.

The incident dates back to Tuesday (February 14) when six fishermen-- namely Thiru Murugan, Chinnathambi, Chandru, Madesh, Sivapalan and Akash [all from Nambiar Nagar fishing village of Nagapattinam]-- went fishing at the Indian border southeast of Kodiakkara in the fiber boat when several Sri Lanka pirates at a high speed in four boats jumped in the boat of the victim and attacked them with knives.

It has been alleged that the sea pirates had cut off three fingers of Murugan's left hand.

Three fingers of Tamil Nadu fisherman Murugan's left hand were cut off in a murderous attack by Sri Lankan pirates, who attacked other fishermen with swords, iron rods and shackles, looted goods worth Rs 5 lakh including fish, GPS equipment, cell phones, bait nets from the Tamil Nadu fishermen's boat and fled from them.

The injured fishermen were later brought to the Nagapattinam Government General Hospital after they were given first aid treatment by fellow fishermen at the Pushbhavanam beach.

Murugan was sent to Coimbatore Hospital for treatment while the other five were undergoing treatment at the Nagapattinam Government Hospital.

The Nagapattinam fishermen have expressed their anguish that they were involved in a knife-point robbery with heavy weapons and attacked them severely when they protested.

( With inputs from ANI )