Katchatheevu is settled

Katchatheevu is a wasteland of an island on the Sri Lankan side of the International Maritime Boundary Line but political parties in Tamil Nadu have made it the focus of a surrogate campaign for establishing fishing rights for Indian fishermen.

The IMBL was amicably settled through two agreements between India and Sri Lanka. It was demarcated in the Palk Strait in 1974 and in the Gulf of Mannar and Bay of Bengal in 1976. As part of the settlement, Indian fishermen and pilgrims were allowed access to Katchatheevu “as hitherto,” and were not required by Sri Lanka to have travel documents or visas.

Fishermen were thus free to visit the island for rest, for drying their nets, and for the annual St. Anthony’s festival. But fishing rights around the island were not specifically covered by the Palk Strait agreement.

However, for Indian fishermen, the real issue is not fishing around Katchatheevu, where the catch has been dwindling as in Indian waters, but fishing well into Sri Lanka’s waters, which are known to be much richer in marine resources.

But returns from such off-limits venturing came with a cost: the fishermen were shot at, sometimes by the Sri Lankan Navy, at other times by the Sea Tigers. These incidents were exploited to inflame political passions in Tamil Nadu.

Thus, while both India and Sri Lanka consider Katchatheevu a settled issue, regional parties in Tamil Nadu have fallen into the habit of demanding, from time to time, ‘retrieval’ of the island. Indian fishermen admit that their problems have little to do with Katchatheevu.

What they are really after is an unrestricted right to fish in Sri Lankan waters. There is no question of a sovereign nation like Sri Lanka conceding such a right - or, for that matter, the Indian Government asking for it.

For chauvinistic elements in Tamil Nadu, Katchatheevu is also an expression by proxy of bitter resentment against the elimination of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam as a military force.

Whether it is Katchatheevu or the Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project, these elements instinctively hew to a line they think can hurt Sri Lanka the most.

There can be no question of India dishonouring the treaties on the IMBL, signed by the Prime Ministers of the two countries and laid before Parliament.

India and Sri Lanka have set up a Joint Working Group to go into issues relating to straying Indian fishermen, the prevention of use of force by the Sri Lankan Navy, and the release of arrested fishermen and the return of confiscated boats.

There must be a sincere attempt to make the JWG arrangement work. Whipping up emotions on proxy issues is surely no way to help either Indian fishermen or Sri Lankan Tamils.

- The Hindu