Sri Lankan Navy arrests 34 Indian fishermen
Colombo, Jan 26 (PTI): The Sri Lankan Navy arrested at least 34 Indian fishermen and seized three trawlers for illegal fishing in two separate incidents, the authorities said on Sunday.
The fishermen have been arrested for illegal fishing in two separate incidents on January 25 and 26, the Navy said.
Both arrests came off the coast of the northeastern Mannar district in the Navy’s continued regular patrols in the Sri Lankan waters to curb illegal fishing, the Navy said.
The arrested fishermen have been handed over to the relevant officials for further action.
The Indian High Commission here earlier this week said some 41 Indian fishermen who had been similarly arrested previously for poaching in Sri Lankan waters were repatriated.
On January 12, eight Indian fishermen were arrested and two fishing trawlers were seized.
The fishermen issue is a contentious one in the ties between India and Sri Lanka, with Lankan Navy personnel even firing at Indian fishermen in the Palk Strait and seizing their boats in several alleged incidents of illegally entering Sri Lankan territorial waters.
The Palk Strait, a narrow strip of water separating Tamil Nadu from Sri Lanka, is a rich fishing ground for fishermen from both countries.
Fishermen from both countries are arrested frequently for inadvertently trespassing into each other's waters.
In 2024, the island nation's Navy arrested 529 Indian fishermen for allegedly poaching in Sri Lankan waters.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
