Plight of Northern fishermen: Proxies in big power games

08 Jan 2022

Plight of Northern fishermen: Proxies in big power games

08 Jan 2022

By Skandha Gunasekara As Indian trawlers and fishermen continue to encroach in Sri Lankan waters denying the locals of their much-needed livelihood, Northern fishermen appear to have become proxies amid the geopolitics of India, China and Sri Lanka. For decades, Indian fishermen in the large bottom trawlers as well as fishing boats have illegally invaded Lankan waters, depleted our resources, and even clashed with local fishermen. N.M. Aalam, former Chairman of the Mannar Fisheries Cooperative Society and a fisherman himself, lamented that South Indian fishing boats come in droves to Lankan seas. “They are still coming and no one is taking action. No arrests are being made. Our fisher-folk cannot keep up with the bottom trawlers and end up with no catch on most days as a result,” he said. Government must take action University of Jaffna Senior Lecturer Dr. Ahilan Kadirgamar said that Sri Lankan authorities had dropped the ball and no action was being taken against the Indian encroachment and that it was up to the Sri Lankan authorities to take action before looking to blame the India. “Obviously from the Indian side nobody would want to see arrests, they would just like this thing to drag on. But what I’m saying is from the Sri Lankan side our Government is not taking the initiative to continue certain processes of negotiations that were initiated in 2016 and 2017. They’ve dropped it. So without even attempting that, to say that it won’t move forward is not correct. I think they are just not engaged on this issue. They’ve just dropped the ball. Even before we consider pressure from India and all that, there has not been proper engagement from this Government in addressing this issue as with many other policies.” He urged the Government to resume bilateral talks on the issue and exert pressure on the Indian Government to do its part to rectify the situation, noting that the former Government had been more proactive in this regard. “There was an interesting development on the Indian side where there was a suggestion by a prominent media institution that they should resume the talks that happened in 2016 when there were ministerial level talks and a joint working group was created. Unfortunately, regardless of the bilateral diplomatic concerns, there hasn’t been enough of an attempt on the part of Sri Lanka to take this forward diplomatically. Under the previous Government there was quite a lot of progress made but that process has not continued.” Law needs to be enforced In October last year, a protest was carried out by a large number of fisher-folk along with members of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), where some 100-odd boats travelled to Point Pedro, the northernmost point of Sri Lankan waters, holding placards calling for an end to bottom trawling and encroachment into Sri Lankan waters by Indian fisherman. TNA Parliamentarian M.A. Sumanthiran too blamed the Government and the Navy of failing to make arrests. “We have very clearly said what needs to be done. The law needs to be enforced. The Minister doesn’t do that. They’re not even arresting the fishermen now. It is a matter for the Ministry of Fisheries to enforce the law. The law has been passed in 2017. For whatever reason he is refusing to enforce the law. He is refusing to enforce the law against the local fishermen also who are engaged in bottom trawling. Bottom trawling can be totally prohibited. It is prohibited by law but if they can enforce the law they can completely stop bottom trawling outright. If they can stop bottom trawling, nobody will come this side.” Delhi moving in right direction When asked about the possibility of Tamil Nadu requesting New Delhi to pressure the Lankan Government to desist from making arrests, MP Sumanthiran said that this was unlikely as the Indian Government and the High Commissioner in Colombo had both acted proactively when concerns were raised. “I don’t think there is any pressure from Tamil Nadu on Delhi to pressure the Lankan Government over the Indian fishermen issue. I think Delhi has very clearly stated that the practice of bottom trawling must end – there is a joint statement between Delhi and Colombo on that and even recently after our protest, fisher leaders came with me and had a meeting with the Indian High Commission in Colombo where he promised them that he would take some action. Thereafter he had gone to Rameshwaram and few places and directly spoken to those fishermen and advised them that they should not engage in this practice. So Delhi clearly knows what should be done. “Delhi has allocated a fair amount of money to persuade the Indian fishermen to go out to deep sea with long liners and multi day boats and things like that. Our worry is that it is taking time. But I can also understand that those fishermen are generally resistant to changing their methods. They are comfortable in continuing methods that they are used to so once they have got used to the bottom trawling, they will be very resistant to changing to long liners and so on. There may be practical difficulties but as to the objective that Delhi is working towards, that is in the right direction.” Arrests ongoing In response to allegations of failure by the Government and the Sri Lankan Navy to implement the necessary laws to arrest fishermen and confiscate their boats, State Minister of Fisheries said that arrests were being made continuously. “The Opposition and civil society always says that. That is not something new but the Navy is taking action. We are taking action. Even in the last two or three weeks there have been arrests, there have been continuous arrests,” State Minister Kanchana Wijesekara said. Why isn’t the law being enforced? National Fisheries Solidarity Movement National Convener Herman Kumara said that while laws were available, the Government seemed to be turning a blind eye to the matter. “There is Indian encroachment into Sri Lankan waters and the people in the North and East are pleading with the Government to stop this by using the laws which are available. But the laws are not being enforced. They come to Sri Lankan waters daily, at least three to four times a week. The question is why the Navy is not enforcing the law. We have all the right to enforce the law because the international maritime boundary line is there to stop others from entering into Sri Lankan waters. But I think the Navy is not getting the necessary orders to do. I’m not sure why.” He said that when it came to bottom trawling, despite it being outlawed in 2017, even local fishermen were engaged in such activities with the support of politicians. “There are local politicians who give patronage to Lankan fishermen taking part in bottom trawling. It’s a matter of strengthening their voter base. The Fisheries Minister himself is involved in this. During the Yahapalanaya Government, Fisheries Minister Douglas Devananda’s people were involved in bottom trawling. Now his supporters have even more opportunities to do so.” Bigger game at play? He charged that there was bigger game at play here and that Delhi maybe looking to curry favour in Tamil Nadu by having the Lankan Government looking the other way – particularly since the Government was at the mercy of India for its financial assistance to mitigate the impact of the current economic crisis. “I think this matter goes higher than local politicians intervening to stop arresting Indian fishermen. The Government is in a real difficult situation with Indian pressure, especially at this current time, and Tamil Nadu is in a strong position to have the Lankan side not take any action because they want to please their own fishermen. They don’t want the Sri Lankan Government to take any action, because there is a law, brought into effect in 2017, to make arrests and take action against encroaching Indian fishermen and earlier this law was enforced.” Weak relationship at the top Former Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva and diplomat Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka noted that when matters were fine between countries at leadership, i.e. when the bilateral relationship was really strong, then more localised issues, however controversial, tended to get solved far more easily. On the other hand, localised matters did not get solved when there were needless gaps between the two states at a high level. “Let me give an example from our own post-independence history. Kuttimani, former founding leader of the Tamil Eelam Liberation (TELO), was travelling in a boat with arms and ammunition and he was arrested by the Indian Coast Guard and of course there was sentiment in Tamil Nadu that he should not be handed over. But then Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi instructed that he be handed over to the Sri Lankan authorities. Now that was because for Indira Gandhi, at that time, the embryonic sentiment in Tamil Nadu was nowhere near as important as her relationship with Sri Lanka and specifically with her counterpart, Prime Minister of Sri Lanka Sirimavo Bandaranaike. This was around 1976. Things of course changed in the 1980s but that was when relations between Colombo and Delhi were not that good. That is my basic point. If the relations at the apex are good, then, whether it’s fishermen, terrorists or anything else, both countries tend to accommodate each other’s needs, interests, and grievances far more supportively. The fact that the issue of the fisherman has not been resolved tells me that there has to be an improvement in the relationship at the top between the two states.” China in the North When asked whether Chinese investments into sea cucumber hatcheries in the Northern Province, which had reportedly provided employment opportunities to hundreds of fisher-folk already, were a move by Beijing to gain favour in the North, Dr. Jayatilleka said that this should not be overlooked. “One cannot entirely discount that. but I think the Northern fishermen have legitimate grievances of their own – the Indian fishermen are moving into Sri Lankan waters which are mainly of the Northern fishermen and bottom trawling in that part of the sea. So I don’t think you need any Chinese encouragement for the Northern fishermen to protest. I noticed even the TNA politicians join the protest at sea where the Jaffna fishermen took to their boats in protest. So I think that is a matter of reaction.” He then pointed out that the sea cucumber hatchery did not cross a diplomatic line as much as the recent visit by the Chinese Ambassador to the North which led to him travelling by boat to the maritime boundary of India. “As for the sea cucumber hatchery, the people of the North and East have every right to reach out to anybody – whether it’s a government or a private company – and tap them for some kind of enterprise in that area. Similarly, any country or private company must be welcomed if it is going to invest in any part of Sri Lanka. That said, I draw a line between a sea cucumber hatchery or farm and the specific programme of the visit of the Chinese Ambassador to the North. I think the visit was perfectly legitimate but in a situation where India has been very sensitive, as any country would be, about a competitor moving close to its border, the Sri Lankan side had to scrutinise the programme of the Ambassador and should have advised him, requested him, or even pleaded with him saying that this will be a wrinkle in India-Sri Lanka relations and could be misperceived. They could have therefore requested him to stand out from that final segment where he got in the Sri Lankan naval gunboat and went up between the Sri Lankan and Indian coastline up to the maritime border of India. That was a gesture that would have been read in a New Delhi in a certain way.” Power play underway He said there was definite power play by the Chinese in the North and whether it would begin with the sea cucumber hatcheries was yet to be seen. “A little joke I made recently to Minister of Fisheries Douglas Devananda is that one of these days the Tamil diaspora in London will soon have to stop putting its so-called national flag in lights on Westminster and shift from the national flower to the sea cucumber. They’ll have to project the sea cucumber on to the walls of on the British Parliament. So I think you get the drift that there could be a shift in power and influence in the North, especially where there are no provincial councils functioning. There is definite Chinese power projection in the north. The Chinese don’t seem to think that the north is a no-go area because it’s close to the southern border of India, but the Sri Lankan Government should know better.” He said the Sri Lanka Government should be wary of pitting the two super powers of India and China against each other for its own benefit and that it would be wise to remember who Sri Lanka’s closest neighbour is as former Prime Minister Madame Sirimavo Bandaranaike did. “Well I think India should stop encroachment because as a Sri Lankan I take the side of the Sri Lankan fishermen but big powers probably don’t dispense with actual or potential proxy instruments unless somebody asks them nicely. We have to know the name of the game and not play that game. Not be seen to do or permit anything which can be perceived as a threat by India or as an affront on its southern perimeter. We must strengthen the relationship with India at the highest political level. Once we do that as Sirimavo Bandaranaike and Indira Gandhi did, once we have that kind of friendship, then to the whole Indian system, a message comes from top down: Don’t allow any problems with Sri Lanka. We have not yet reached that point. In fact we have been sending out mixed signals including by allowing this particular leg of the Chinese Ambassador’s trip to the North.”

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Plight of Northern fishermen: Proxies in big power games

Plight of Northern fishermen: Proxies in big power games

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