by Nirmala Carvalho

This is the charge of an activist who defends the fishing communities of the State. Tamil Nadu abandons its migrant workers. Two days ago, an American naval vessel fired on the fishing vessel off the coast of Dubai. On board were six Indians and two citizens of Dubai. In addition to the victim, three other Indians wounded.

Mumbai (AsiaNews) - The incident involving the U.S. military ship USNS Rappahannok and some Indian fishermen off the coast of Dubai is "a tragedy" and primary responsibility lies with "Tamil Nadu", the victims State of origin. So says Armstrong M, an activist of the Rameswaram Fisher Forum. The incident, which occurred two days ago, resulted in a fisherman being killed and three others wounded when the American vessel opened fire on the boat. U.S. officials immediately apologized claiming that they only opened fire after launching several warning signals. However, the survivors deny receiving any communication from the U.S. ship. The UAE have launched investigations into the incident pending clarifications on the circumstances of the episode.

Six Indians from the district of Ramanathapuram (Tamil Nadu) and two UAE nationals worked onboard the Arab owned trawler. The victim, 27 year-old Sekhar, was a native of the coastal village of Thoppuvalasai. The three injured are Muthumuniaraj R, 27, of the village Karaiyur, Muthukannan, 28, and Panduvanathan, both from the village of Mullimunai. All of them were day laborers, employed by some fishing companies based in Dubai.

Armstrong M explains to AsiaNews that the incident with U.S. naval vessel is only one of the many dangers faced by Indian fishermen from Tamil Nadu. The issue, he says, "is that they are completely abandoned: neither the state nor the central government protect their rights, or provide them the security they need."

One of the biggest problems is represented by Sri Lanka. For years tension has been mounting over continual encroachments in territorial waters. "The Colombo Navy - says the activist - regularly intercepts Indian boats and attacks them with stones and bottles. This causes serious damage to nets and trawlers, but especially to the Indians, whose livelihood is based on fishing."

In many cases - like that of the protagonists of the incident with the USNS Rappahannok - Indian fishermen decide to migrate to the Gulf countries to seek a better fortune. "But when abroad - reaffirms Armstrong - they find themselves abandoned by their country. This situation is terrible, because the fishermen of Tamil Nadu seem to have no value to anyone."

• INDIA
• -
• USA
• fishing
• vessel
• incident
• protection
• human
• rights