A view of Katchatheevu in Sri Lanka.
| Photo Credit: L. BALACHANDAR

The statements coming out of India on “reclaiming” Katchatheevu island from Sri Lanka have “no ground”, the Sri Lankan Minister of Fisheries Douglas Devananda has said.

The senior Sri Lankan Tamil politician’s comments came days after the Narendra Modi government targeted the Congress Party and its ally the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in Tamil Nadu accusing them of overlooking national interests in the ceding of Katchatheevu island to Sri Lanka in 1974.

The BJP has also been targeting the two parties for not ensuring the rights of the fishermen wanting to fish in waters around the Katchatheevu island.

“It is the election time in India, it is not unusual to hear such noises of claims and counterclaims about Katchatheevu,” Mr. Devananda told reporters in Jaffna on Thursday.

“I think India is acting on its interests to secure this place to ensure Sri Lankan fishermen would not have any access to that area and that Sri Lanka should not claim any rights in that resourceful area”, Devananda said.

The statements on “reclaiming” Katchatheevu from Sri Lanka’s hold has “no ground,” Mr. Devananda has said.

The Sri Lankan Minister said according to the 1974 agreement fishermen from both sides could do fishing in the territorial waters of both countries. But it was later reviewed and amended in 1976.

Accordingly, fishermen from both countries were banned from fishing in neighbouring waters.

Mr. Devananda stressed, “There claims to be a place called West Bank which is located below Kanyakumari — it is a much bigger area with extensive sea resources — it is 80 times bigger than Katchatheevu, India secured it at the 1976 review agreement.”

Mr. Devananda as the Fisheries Minister has faced pressure from the local fishermen in recent months.

The local fishermen have led widespread protests to stop illegal fishing by their Indian counterparts in the Sri Lankan waters. They say the bottom trawling by the Indians is harmful to Sri Lankan fishing community interests.

So far this year, at least 178 Indian fishermen and 23 trawlers have been arrested by the Sri Lanka Navy.

Mr. Devananda, an ex-Tamil militant who now leads the Eelam People’s Democratic Party, was named a proclaimed offender by a court in Chennai in 1994.

On Thursday, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) steered clear of the row surrounding Katchatheevu island.

To a volley of questions on the Katchatheevu issue, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal referred to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s recent comments on the matter.

“I would like to tell you that on the issues that have been raised, the External Affairs Minister has spoken to the press here in Delhi and also in Gujarat clarifying all the issues,” he said.

“I would refer that you please look at his press engagements. You will get your answers there,” Mr. Jaiswal said in New Delhi.

A view of Katchatheevu in Sri Lanka.
| Photo Credit: L. BalachandarL

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No need for talks with India on ‘resolved’ Katchatheevu issue, says Sri Lankan Foreign Minister

Sri Lanka sees no reason for re-opening talks on Katchatheevu that India gave up 50 years ago, Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Ali Sabry has said, in the first official reaction yet to the recent remarks of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on the island.

India urges Israel to ensure safety and well-being of Indian workers

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Pappu Yadav files nomination from Purnea as Independent

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Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Ali Sabry.
| Photo Credit: AP

Sri Lanka sees no reason for re-opening talks on Katchatheevu that India gave up 50 years ago, Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Ali Sabry has said, in the first official reaction yet to the recent remarks of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on the island.

“This is a problem discussed and resolved 50 years ago and there is no necessity to have further discussions on this,” he told a local news television channel on April 3.

Earlier, Colombo-based official sources told The Hindu that the Ranil Wickremesinghe administration refrained from commenting on the development, as it was a clash between two political parties in the run-up to elections. “The comments are about who was responsible for giving up the island to Sri Lanka, not about whose territory it is part of now. So, there is nothing for Sri Lanka to comment on, really,” an official said, requesting anonymity owing to the “sensitivity” of the issue.  

Meanwhile some in Sri Lanka, including mainstream media and former diplomats, have slammed the remarks of Mr. Modi and Mr. Jaishankar, terming them a “provocation”.  

Further, fishermen’s groups in northern Sri Lanka accused the Indian leaders’ of turning the spotlight away from the long-enduring conflict among fishermen of both countries. For several years now, they have voiced concern over the marine resources in the Palk Strait, seen to be depleting owing to overfishing by bottom trawlers used by Indian fishermen in Sri Lankan waters.

Even before the signing of the two agreements in 1974 and 1976 that sealed the territorial question of Katchatheevu, Sri Lanka’s position on the tiny island in the Palk Strait was unambiguous, according to Prof. V. Suryanarayan, Founding Director and Senior Professor (retired), Centre for South and Southeast Asian Studies, University of Madras.

In an in-depth two-part analysis of the history of the Katchatheevu dispute, published in Frontline magazine in 1992, he wrote about “New Delhi’s ambivalence”, contrasting it with successive Colombo governments’ “consistent stand” on the matter. According to Prof. Suryanarayan, a Sri Lanka expert, Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake told the House of Representatives that Ceylon’s position had always been that it had exercised effective control over the island. “Our claim is well-founded on historical facts,” the PM had said.

Police detain AAP supporters who were staging a protest outside the Tihar Jail in West Delhi. The Enforcement Directorate has said that that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is the “kingpin” and the “key conspirator” in the excise policy case
| Photo Credit: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR

Sri Lankan media hit out at Modi’s Katchatheevu remarks

The Sri Lankan government is yet to comment on the recent remarks by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Katchatheevu, but the island nation’s media took a critical view of the development, while fishermen’s associations urged Sri Lankan authorities to take up the issue of bottom trawling more vocally with the Indian government.

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Mr. Kharge made these remarks in a letter he wrote to Dr. Singh as the former Prime Minister is all set to retire as a member of the Rajya Sabha.

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In 1968, Ceylon’s ‘occupation’ of Katchatheevu sparked a debate

In the run-up to the Lok Sabha election, the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have raked up the issue of ‘ceding’ of Katchatheevu to Sri Lanka in 1974. Interestingly, six years before India and Sri Lanka signed the agreement on the islet, reports of “occupation” of Katchatheevu by Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) triggered a fiery debate.

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Chief Justice of India (CJI) Justice DY Chandrachud addresses during the 20th D.P. Kohli Memorial Lecture on Adopting Technology to Advance Criminal Justice, in New Delhi on April 1, 2024
| Photo Credit: ANI

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On March 31, Prime Minister Narendra Modi kicked up a controversy over Katchatheevu, a few weeks ahead of the Lok Sabha election in Tamil Nadu. Citing a report in a daily and posting it on “X” (formerly Twitter), he said: “Eye-opening and startling! New facts reveal how Congress callously gave away Katchatheevu…”

Yet, the utility of Katchatheevu as an electoral issue is doubtful, if one goes by the results of Lok Sabha elections in the Ramanathapuram constituency since 1977.

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Taking to X, former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram asked if demands can be raised on a political party when all political parties are exempt from income tax. “I welcome the Solicitor General’s statement in Court that no coercive steps will be taken to enforce the Income Tax demands on the Congress party. There are issues larger than a demand for income tax,” Mr Chidambaram said.

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Britain-based war monitoring group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said eight people, including several Guards members, were killed when “Israeli missiles… destroyed the building of an annex to the Iranian embassy”.

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Rohit Sharma, the India captain, was cheered. Hardik Pandya was jeered, and cheered as well. Neither Rohit, who continued to be worshipped despite being replaced as Mumbai Indians skipper, nor Hardik, his successor, could withstand the Rajasthan Royals onslaught.

A view of Katchatheevu island in Sri Lanka.
| Photo Credit: L. Balachandar

The story so far: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 31 raised again the controversial matter of Katchatheevu, a few weeks ahead of the Lok Sabha poll in Tamil Nadu. Citing a report in a daily and posting it on “X” (formerly Twitter), he said: “Eye-opening and startling! New facts reveal how Congress callously gave away Katchatheevu….” Subsequently, the State BJP and the AIADMK sharpened their attacks on the DMK and the Congress while the responses were swift too. Even though almost 50 years have lapsed since the signing of the original agreement in 1974, the matter comes back to the fore as political parties use it for attacking their adversaries. On March 16, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK chief M.K. Stalin contended that Katchatheevu was ceded to Sri Lanka despite strong protests by the DMK. He asked the Prime Minister what steps were taken by the latter to retrieve the islet. About one-and-a-half months ago, Katchatheevu was in limelight as, in late February, fishermen associations in Ramanathapuram district boycotted the annual two-day festival, as a mark of protest against the Sri Lankan Government’s continuing arrests of Indian fishermen on charges of poaching.

When did Katchatheevu become a part of Sri Lanka?

During June 26-28, 1974, the then Prime Ministers of India and Sri Lanka, Indira Gandhi and Sirima R.D. Bandaranaike, signed an agreement to demarcate the boundary between the two countries in the historic waters from Palk Strait to Adam’s Bridge. A joint statement issued on June 28, 1974, stated that a boundary had been defined “in conformity with the historical evidence, legal international principles and precedents.” It also pointed out that “this boundary falls one mile off the west coast of the uninhabited” Katchatheevu. The pact brought to a close the talks held between the two sides since October 1921. Initially, the negotiations were held between the governments of the then Madras and Ceylon.

How important has been Kachatheevu to the fisherfolk?

Fisherfolk of the two countries have been traditionally using the islet for fishing. Though this feature was acknowledged in the 1974 agreement, the supplemental pact in March 1976 made it clear that fishing vessels and fishermen of the two countries “shall not engage” in fishing in the historic waters, territorial sea and exclusive zone or exclusive economic zone of either of the countries “without the express permission of Sri Lanka or India.”

St. Anthony’s Church there holds an annual festival, either in February or March, drawing devotees from both sides of the Palk Bay, a tradition which has been going on.

What triggered the negotiations between India and Sri Lanka?

Sri Lanka claimed sovereignty over Kachatheevu on the ground that the Portuguese who had occupied the island during 1505-1658 CE had exercised jurisdiction over the islet. India’s contention was that the erstwhile Raja of Ramnad [Ramanathapuram] had possession of it as part of his zamin. According to a news item published by The Hindu on March 6, 1968 which was based on the interview of the erstwhile Raja Ramanatha Sethupathi, Kachatheevu was under the jurisdiction of the zamin “from time immemorial” and it was the “last post’ of the Ramnad Estate. He added that the zamin had been collecting taxes till 1947 when it was taken over by the State government following the Zamindari Abolition Act. However, replying to the debate on the matter in Lok Sabha in July 1974, the then External Affairs Minister Swaran Singh asserted that the decision had been taken after “exhaustive research of historical and other records” on the islet.

How was the 1974 agreement received?

The present demand for the Katchatheevu retrieval traces its origin to the opposition that the pact generated in 1974. During the debates in both Houses of Parliament in July 1974, most of the Opposition including the DMK, AIADMK, Jan Sangh, Swatantara and the Socialist Party, staged walk outs in the two Houses. Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who was the Jan Sangh’s leader, had contended that the decision to transfer the islet had been taken “behind the back” of the people and Parliament. He was supported by Madhu Limaye, veteran Socialist leader. The then Chief Minister M.Karunanidhi, even in 1973 when the talk of the islet transfer had been doing rounds, had urged Indira Gandhi that the popular feeling was in favour of retaining Katchatheevu which “belonged to India and not to Tamil Nadu alone,” according to a report published by The Hindu on October 17, 1973. Three months later, he wrote a letter reiterating the stand, a copy of which was released a day after the 1974 agreement was signed. M. G. Ramachandran, founder of the AIADMK, which was a fledgling party then, had criticised Karunanidhi for “his failure to guide the Centre properly” on the issue and sought his resignation.

When did the issue get a fresh lease of life?

After remaining low nearly for over 15 years, the Katchatheevu issue got revived in August 1991 with the then Chief Minister Jayalalithaa demanding retrieval during her Independence Day address. She later modified her demand to one of getting back the islet through “a lease in perpetuity.” The Tamil Nadu Assembly had witnessed a number of debates on the matter. In the last 15 years, both Jayalalithaa and Karunanidhi had approached the Supreme Court on the matter.

What has been the stand of the Union government on the issue?

In August 2013, the Union government told the Supreme Court that the question of retrieval of Kachchatheevu from Sri Lanka did not arise as no territory belonging to India was ceded to Sri Lanka. It contended that the islet was a matter of dispute between British India and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and there was no agreed boundary, a matter of which was settled through 1974 and 1976 agreements. In December 2022, the Union government, while referring to the two agreements, pointed out in its reply in the Rajya Sabha that Katchatheevu “lies on the Sri Lankan side of the India-Sri Lanka International Maritime Boundary Line.” It added that the matter was sub-judice in the Supreme Court.