‘Repeated incidents occurring with such rapid succession, particularly, when I had written calling for an early release of the fishermen before the Colombo talks lead me to wonder whether the Lankan Navy is making a sinister attempt to nullify the positive and proactive steps taken to work out a pragmatic solution for the day-to-day fishing activities of our fishermen”, the Chief Minister said in her letter, dated March 7, to the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

She urged the Indian Prime Minister to take up the matter through the highest diplomatic-level for the immediate release of the  177 Tamil Nadu fishermen and their 44 boats, including the 24 fishermen and 5 boats taken into custody on March 5.

She reiterated her condition that all Tamil Nadu fishermen and their boats should be released prior to the Colombo talks.