India fishermen say forced to carry Tamil refugees .
P.V. Krishnamoorthy
RAMESWARAM , India 1996-08-28
Indian fishermen said on Wednesday they had been forced at gunpoint to ferry refugees fleeing the ethnic war in Sri Lanka to India , as a protest strike by more than 30,000 fishermen entered its ninth day .
" There is little we can do when at mid-sea .
The LTTE ( Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam ) accosts us and , at the point of a gun , forces us to take refugees , " said senior fishermen leader P. Arulanandam .
Some 850 refugees have landed in recent weeks at the port of Rameswaram in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu , home to 50 million Tamil-speaking people , port officials say .
Rameswaram is 15 km ( 10 miles ) off the coast of Sri Lanka .
State chief minister M. Karunanidhi has publicly welcomed the refugees , who are fleeing the 13-year war between Tamil separatists and government troops that Colombo says has cost 50,000 lives .
But the influx has triggered fears of a repeat of the 1980s when some 200,000 refugees landed in Tamil Nadu .
Intelligence officals said more than 5,000 Tamils were waiting on the western coast of Sri Lanka to cross into India .
The Indian government has warned its fishermen that their boats would be impounded if they were caught ferrying refugees .
The fishermen went on strike last week to protest the government 's cancellation of three trawlers ' fishing licenses after the boats were caught carrying Tamil refugees .
All Fishermen 's Association secretary N.J. Bose said the strike would continue indefinitely and the fishermen would block road and rail traffic if their demands were not met .
" Until the government releases our boats from naval custody and Sri Lankan naval custody , and gives us assurance ( it will not revoke licences of boats ferrying refugees ) , we will not call off our strike , " Bose said .
LTTE spokesmen could not immediately be reached for comment , but Sri Lankan fishermen denied that Indians were being coerced into carrying refugees across the Palk Strait .
" Indian fishermen come right up to Pesalai to fish , and when refugees request them to ferry them across , they readily oblige .
Only some take money , " Sri Lankan boatman Chinnathambi said .
Arulanandam denied the fishermen charged the refugees for passage to India and said it was unfair to penalise them for the refugees ' arrival .
" We have not gone to sea since August 19 , but refugees are arriving daily nevertheless .
How could we alone be held responsible for the influx ? "
he said .
An Indian Fisheries Department official said the government planned to urge fishermen not to cross the international boundary between India and Sri Lanka , but admitted this would be hard to enforce because of Sri Lanka 's pomfret-rich waters .