Tamil Nadu fishermen belonging to Mandapam village in Ramanathapuram district have complained to Indian Coast Guard officials about Chinese presence on Sri Lankan naval vessels that attacked them last week.
A group of fishermen told reporters at Rameswaram that a team of higher officials from Coast Guard met them on Wednesday and inquired specifically about Chinese soldiers on Lankan vessels. The officials took photographs of the injured fishermen and the damaged boats.
The attacked fishermen said the Coast Guard officials asked them to describe the appearance of those soldiers whom the fishermen identified as Chinese. The officials took note of the fishermen's views and assured them that it would be conveyed to the authorities concerned.
A group of fishermen told reporters at Rameswaram that a team of higher officials from Coast Guard met them on Wednesday and inquired specifically about Chinese soldiers on Lankan vessels. The officials took photographs of the injured fishermen and the damaged boats.
The attacked fishermen said the Coast Guard officials asked them to describe the appearance of those soldiers whom the fishermen identified as Chinese. The officials took note of the fishermen's views and assured them that it would be conveyed to the authorities concerned.
Fishermen belonging to Ramanathapuram and Nagappattinam districts have been complaining about Chinese presence for the last three months. They had also alleged that it was the Chinese who had treated them harshly.
On October 28, a group of fishermen who were attacked and chased by the Sri Lankan navy near Katchatheev island said they saw Chinese soldiers on Lankan ships.
And on September 25, two groups of fishermen belonging to Nagappattinam who returned to shore wearing gunny sacks complained that the Sri Lankan navy and the Chinese who were on their boats attacked them and ill-treated them. They asserted that they could distinguish between Sinhalese and non-Sinhalese, since they were meeting the Sinhalese regularly for several decades.
The fishermen said they were stripped naked, made to stand in the midnight sea breeze with ice boxes on their head.
The fishermen were asked to tear the Indian National Flag in their boats and forced to wear them as loin cloth, while saluting the Sri Lankan national flag. They were forced to eat food, which was urinated by the Chinese soldiers, they said.
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