India releases six detained Sri Lankan Fishermen

(January 19, 2012) India has freed six fishermen of Sri Lanka held in the Andaman Islands for nearly two years, following an appeal for their release by the Sri Lankan government. “They were handed over to the police by a local court on Wednesday. The Sri Lankan high commission in Chennai is now arranging for them to be brought home,” Herman Kumara, convener of the National Fishery Solidarity Movement, said on Thursday. “Their families and their supporters who have battled hard campaigning for their release are overjoyed at this news,” he said. The six fishermen, four Catholics and two Buddhists, from the western towns of Chilaw and Kalpitiya were arrested in 2010, for allegedly fishing illegally in Indian waters. Their arrest and detention prompted relatives and friends including Buddhist monks to launch a series of campaigns to force the Sri Lankan government into trying to win their release through diplomatic channels. In October last year, family members and several monks launched a hunger strike which was called off after they won a promise from the north-western province fisheries minister that the authorities would seek to win the fishermen’s release within three months. “If the government had not intervened, we would have resumed the hunger strike,” said Venerable Pujaya Diyasena Thero, the abbot of Kandakkuliya temple near Kalpitiya. “We are so happy hearing of their release,” the monk said. Only last week an Indian delegation met with government officials in Colombo to try and resolve these disputes.