Abduction of Indian fishermen: DMK protests

Chennai, Feb 16 (PTI) Over 5,000 DMK workers, includingparty MPs Kanimozhi and T K S Elangovan, were arrested heretoday when they tried to take out a rally to Sri Lankan DeputyHigh Commission protesting the alleged abduction of over 100Indian fishermen to Sri Lanka.

About 5,000 party workers, besides Kanimozhi, Elangovan,party''s North and South Chennai district secretaries V S BabuMLA and J Anbazhagan were arrested when they tried to take outthe rally, a DMK release here said.

They demanded immediate release of the abductedfishermen, now believed to be in Sri Lanka, the release added.

As many as 106 fishermen belonging to three fishinghamlets in Nagapattinam, were allegedly abducted by Sri Lankanfishermen and reportedly handed over to Lankan authoritiesyesterday, sparking off angst and protests in the state.

Recently two fishermen from the state were killedallegedly by the Sri Lankan Navy in different incidents,prompting New Delhi to take up the matter with Colombo.

Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj hadalso taken up the matter with Sri Lanka''s envoy to IndiaPrasad Kariyawasam, during their recent meeting in Delhi.

She had also promised to take up the matter in theParliament.