Satisfied with the steps taken by the Centre and the State to free five fishermen, sentenced to death by a Colombo court on the charges of drug-trafficking, Rameswaram fishermen decided to end their strike and resume fishing on Saturday.

As positive signals came from Colombo, leaders of 11 fishermen associations met on Friday and decided to call off the strike, launched on October 31, a day after the Colombo High Court delivered the verdict.

“As we are satisfied with the steps being taken by the Centre and State governments and we have a ray of hope that the fishermen will be released, we have decided to end the strike,” fishermen leaders P. Sesu Raja and N.J. Bose said. They also took into account the plight of the families of fishermen who were rendered jobless. As the fishermen had no alternative livelihood, they started borrowing to run the families, the leaders said.

Though there was no official word yet on the release of the fishermen, the leaders thanked the Centre and the State for their effective steps and leaders of various parties and NGOs for backing the community in its struggle to save the “innocent fishermen.”
(The Hindu)