New Delhi: Whereas responding to the Opposition’s no-confidence movement in Lok Sabha, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Thursday mentioned that Indira Gandhi gave the island of Katchatheevu to Sri Lanka.
He additionally mentioned that the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)-led authorities in Tamil Nadu retains urging him to reclaim Katchatheevu. A day earlier than Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe was to go to India final month, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.Okay. Stalin too wrote to the PM, urging him to provoke diplomatic efforts to retrieve the island.
In his letter, Stalin reportedly wrote that retrieving Katchatheevu will “re-establish historic fishing rights and supply everlasting aid to our fishermen”.
By elevating this situation, Modi was referring to the India-Sri Lanka maritime boundary agreements signed between the 2 nations in 1974 and 1976, which demarcated the worldwide boundary between them.
ThePrint explains the historical past of Katchatheevu and the problems that encompass it.
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An island between India & Sri Lanka
In line with a speech by then Sri Lankan overseas minister Rohitha Bogollagama within the Sri Lankan Parliament in 2008, out there on the nation’s overseas affairs ministry web site, Katchatheevu is a barren island positioned within the Palk Strait about 15 miles (24 kilometres) north-east of Ramanathapuram in Tamil Nadu and roughly 14 miles (22 kilometres) south-west of Delft Islands in Sri Lanka.
There are not any inhabitants or everlasting buildings on the island apart from a Roman Catholic church known as St. Anthony’s Shrine, which is run by the diocese of Jaffna, Sri Lanka.
In line with media stories, the island was owned by the Raja of Ramnad (present-day Ramanathapuram) and later turned part of the Madras Presidency. From 1921 until 1974, each India and Sri Lanka claimed Katchatheevu for fishing and the island remained disputed until the agreements have been signed between each nations.
The 2 maritime boundary agreements
In June 1974, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and her Sri Lankan counterpart Sirimavo Bandaranaike signed an settlement known as ‘The Boundary in Historic Waters Between the Two International locations and Associated Issues’. Underneath this settlement, Katchatheevu got here below Sri Lankan territory.
Article 4 of the settlement acknowledged that every nation shall have “sovereignty and unique jurisdiction and management over the waters, the islands, the continental shelf and subsoil thereof, falling by itself aforesaid boundary”.
Article 5 of the settlement allowed for Indian fishermen and pilgrims to go to Katchatheevu with out requiring to acquire journey paperwork from Sri Lanka.
A second settlement was signed in 1976 between the 2 governments on the ‘Maritime Boundary within the Gulf of Mannar and the Bay of Bengal’.
Article 5 of this settlement made it clear that every shall have “sovereignty over the historic waters and territorial sea, in addition to over the islands, falling on its facet of the aforementioned boundary”.
Moreover, Article 5 acknowledged that every nation would have sovereign rights and unique jurisdiction over sources, whether or not residing or non-living, falling on its facet of the boundaries. Briefly, fishermen from Tamil Nadu not had fishing rights across the island.
Arrests of Indian fishermen
To start with, historic fishing rights between Indian and Sri Lankan fishermen have been maintained round Katchatheevu. The waters surrounding the island are mentioned to have wealthy sources of prawns, chank shells, pearl oysters and corals as acknowledged by Bogollagama in his speech to the Sri Lankan Parliament in 2008.
Moreover, so long as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) operated in northern Sri Lanka, the Lankan authorities restricted straightforward motion of their fishermen within the space. After the Sri Lankan Civil Struggle resulted in 2009, the nation’s navy started patrolling the seas round northern Sri Lanka once more.
This led to arrests of Indian fishermen and seizure of their boats and fishing trawlers. In line with a response given by Minister of State for Exterior Affairs V. Muraleedharan in Rajya Sabha to a query by MPs Vaiko and M. Shanmugam final month, 74 Indian fishermen have been arrested by Sri Lanka in 2023 alone, together with stories of two assaults by the Sri Lankan Navy. All fishermen have been launched, he mentioned.
Between 2020 and 2022, 501 Indian fishermen have been imprisoned by Sri Lanka, based on one other reply by the minister in Lok Sabha.
Tamil Nadu vs. Union authorities
In 1991, the Tamil Nadu meeting adopted a decision demanding the retrieval of the island of Katchatheevu.
In 2008, the then chief minister of Tamil Nadu, J. Jayalalithaa, filed a case in opposition to the Union authorities within the Supreme Courtroom, claiming that the 2 boundary agreements between India and Sri Lanka are unconstitutional, and to nullify the agreements.
In his 2008 speech, Bogollagama made it clear that any nullification of the agreements by the Supreme Courtroom of India wouldn’t be binding on Sri Lanka.
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)
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