In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said while 13 fishermen had been apprehended by the Sri Lankan Navy yesterday morning, five more had been detained late last evening along with their boat and taken to Thalaimannar.
He had yesterday itself taken up the matter of the arrest of the 13 persons in a letter to Modi.
"The continuing apprehensions of our fishermen in their traditional waters of Palk Bay is creating a sense of panic and unrest among the fisherman community of Tamil Nadu," he said in the letter today.
He requested Modi's "urgent intervention" to secure the immediate release of a total of 53 fishermen, including the five arrested last evening, and 123 boats.
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Pointing that the annul festival at the Katchatheevu St Anthony's Church, attended by fishermen of both India and Sri Lanka, was due within a week, he said it would be a fitting gesture if the detained fishers and boats were released ahead of it so that all could participate in the event happily.
The ceding of the islet by India to Sri Lanka through an agreement in 1974 had been challenged "on extremely valid and legal grounds" in the Supreme Court by late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in her "personal capacity" in 2008, he said, adding the state government had subsequently impleaded itself in the case.
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