20th July 1997

All at sea

In the early hours of April 15, the trawler ‘Fathima Mani’ left the Negombo lagoon on an eight day voyage. With four fishermen on board, the boat set sail to deep sea.

The first few hours were spent in steering the vessel through a heavy storm, but by mid morning the sea was calm and the crew began to throw the fishing nets. Having no fears of steering into Indian waters, the Fathima Mani along with another six trawlers which were already in deep sea were sailing along the South bar, many miles away from the Lankan shores.

When Francis Fernando, the owner of Fathima Mani had first spotted a boat speeding towards them, thinking it was another Lankan fishing boat had signalled to it. But a closer view revealed that it belonged to the Indian Coast Guard. The Indian coast guard vessel was with officers who immediately demanded that two of the fishermen from the seven Lankan vessels board the Indian boat, while one officer joined each of the boats.That was the end of the ten day fishing voyage for the Lankan fishermen,who were taken into custody for straying into Indian waters.

For more than two months forty eight fishermen belonging to seven fishing boats were in prisons of Tamil Nadu. After months of suffering in prison the fishermen were released last week, after mediation between the two governments.

Last week when The Sunday Times visited some of these men, most of them were repairing their boats which had been neglected for months. They shared their experiences in the Indian prison and their fears of not seeing their loved ones for many months

Once they were captured the fishermen claim they were not handed over to the Indian police, but were put to work, to repair a massive ship. For four days the forty-eight fishermen were forced to work on the ship for more than eight hours a day without a break, under trying conditions.

"We were treated like slaves. The ship which was about two hundred feet long was in a terrible condition. We had to do everything, from painting to the technical work. A guard used to supervise us and if we ever tried to take a break, he would slap us.

We were treated worse than animals. We thought we would never be handed over to the police and any possibility of release was bleak. However, later we found out that the ship was to be used for a function," said Francis Fernando.

Once the work on the ship was completed, the fishermen were handed over to the Indian police. Conditions then improved. It is here they met a few other Lankan fishermen who had been captured many months before. The fishermen were grouped and put into cells. Until the day they were released the 48 men were made to work in the garden and even cook for the other prisoners.

"By 4.00 am we had to get up.The only thing which kept us going was our faith in God. The moment we got up we would pray. This was the most emotional time for most of the men who were nearing a breakdown. But we became very united in the face of adversity. Whenever one person was given a difficult job we made sure to take turns at the job, and at times this angered the prison guards," said Francis.

The worst, he said, had been the meals, both when cooking and eating. Half of the men were taken to the kitchen while the others had to clean the garden and the toilets.

"I was mostly in the kitchen.We were given vegetables which were spoiled and infested with worms. If we tried to separate the good from the bad we were thrashed. So, worms and other insects were served with the rice. The rice was cooked from the water which was used to wash the vegetables. Only one other chap and I did not eat the vegetables.We used to have the rice mixed with water," he said.

While ‘Fathima Mani’ was captured just a day after leaving Negombo it was not so in the case of ‘Kumari’. Having spent more than seven days in the sea and with a catch of fish that they estimated would have fetched them more than Rs one lakh, the boat was just about to head home when they were captured by the Indian Coastal Guard.

The watchman of the boat Mervyn Fernando said that they left Negombo on April 13 and spent one week in the deep seas.

"I was sure we had not crossed into the Indian waters. We could see Mannar but once we were captured we were helpless," he said.

The most horrifying experience for the crew had been when their entire catch was taken by the officers. All their hard work and sleepless nights in the stormy seas were washed away. "It was painful to see them just tossing the fish and even throwing it back to the sea," said Mervyn.

While the 48 fishermen were suffering in the Indian prison, back home their families were also in turmoil. Mervyn’s wife Marie had first got the news of her husband’s capture through some fishermen .

"I treated it as a rumour because whenever a boat was delayed they would say it was captured by the Indian authorities. After a few days the news of their abduction was confirmed. The moment I heard this I went to the church and made a vow for their safe return. This was the only thing I did until they came home. I had asked my husband not to go back to sea, but then what else can he do, this has been our livelihood for generations," she lamented

It had been the same for Francis family and the others. It had been with the greatest difficulty that Francis had requested an Indian official to give them some paper to write to their families.

"We were given a paper and only one of us were allowed to write. So I wrote to my family giving all our names and saying that we were okay and asking them to inform the other families. This was the only communication we had," said Francis.

All the boats had been looted. They had only been spared the engine so that the boats could be brought back. The fishermen had not been told of their release until a few hours before their release.

"We were overjoyed, we could not believe it, because the earlier batch were detained for more than six months," he said.

It was with happiness and sorrow that they left, sadness because the earlier ship which was captured was not released.

"Those men were crying their hearts out. The only thing we could do was bring some letters to their families," he said.

So will such an experience affect their livelihood? "‘Definitely not," says Francis who is making plans to set sail on Tuesday. "How else can we feed our families?"

But the local authorities should bring some solution to this problem immediately, before others meet the same fate," he said.

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