Explained: The Katchatheevu island controversy

By Aditi Tandon

Latest RTI responses by the Ministry of External Affairs have revealed that a small island in Palk Strait, Katchatheevu, was ceded by India to Sri Lanka even when the legal opinion of the time supported India's claim on it, including the rights of Tamil Nadu fishermen to fish in these waters.

The RTI responses reveal then PM Jahawarlal Nehru and later Indira Gandhi speaking of Katchatheevu lightly, with Nehru saying he attached no importance to the island and did not like the matter to be raised again and again in Parliament and Indira Gandhi calling it a small rock. The RTI responses also reveal that then Tamil Nadu CM K Karunanidhi of the DMK, whose son MK Stalin is the incumbent CM in the state, agreed to India's proposal to cede Katchatheevu to Sri Lanka.

Prime MInister Narendra Modi-led BJP government's case is -- INDIA bloc parties Congress and DMK "connived to abdicate Indian claim on Katchatheevu, including the rights of Tamil Nadu fishermen to fish in island waters, and continue to behave as though they had nothing to do with the matter." External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar today said: 'We all know who did it. People have the right to know who hid it?"

Genesis

After Bangladesh gained Independence on March 26, 1971 , India and Bangladesh commenced the exercise to draw up their International Maritime Boundary for clarity of rights over the waters. In June 1974 the two nations signed the International Maritime Boundary Agreement for the purpose and dealt with Katchatheevu island in the Palk Strait. This agreement, according to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, safeguarded the traditional rights of Tamil Nadu fishermen to fish in the waters in Katchatheevu island as they did earlier. The Agreement had a clause that stated that “Indian fishermen will continue to operate in the waters as before without the need to obtain travel documents”.

Then External Affairs Minister Swaran Singh sharing the 1974 Agreement details in Parliament on July 23, 1974, said, "I feel confident that the agreement demarcating the maritime boundary in the Palk Bay will be considered as fair just and equitable to both countries. I wish to remind MPs that in concluding this agreement the rights of fishing, pilgrimage and navigation which both sides have enjoyed in the past have been fully safeguarded for the future."

The final straw

The 1974 assurance and concessions, Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP Government says, were squandered through another agreement of 1976 signed through an exchange of letters between India and Sri Lanka. In this agreement India gave up its claim on Katchatheevu altogether by agreeing to Indian fishermen not fishing in Katchatheevu waters. India proposed, "With the establishment of exclusive economic zones by the two countries, India and Sri Lanka will exercise sovereign rights over living and nonliving resources of their respective sovereigns. The fishermen and fishing vessels of India shall not engage in fishing in historic waters, the territorial sea and the exclusive zones of Sri Lanka."

Not possible without Centre-State connivance: BJP

Jaishankar shared records today to say that the Congress-led Centre and DMK-led Tamil Nadu connived at the time to give up Indian claim over Katchatheevu and now approach the issue though they have nothing to do with it.  MEA records detail a meeting held on June 19, 1974, between then Foreign Secretary and Tamil Nadu CM K Karunanidhi of the DMK. Foreign secretary said he had the authority of PM Indira Gandhi and foreign minister to put forward to the Tamil Nadu CM a compromise proposal that will divide the waters between the two countries. This means Karunanidhi was consulted on the demarcation of maritime boundary that would finally take place in June 1974. MEA records say, "At the end of the conversation Tamil Nadu CM indicated he was inclined to accept the suggested solution and said for obvious political reasons he could not be expected to take a public stand in favour of it. He assured he will help keep reaction low key."

The Foreign Secretary said nothing should be done to embarrass the Central Government.

Role of then PMs

Jaishankar quoted former PM Jawahar Lal Nehru on Katchatheevu as saying in May 1961 in Parliament, "I attach no importance at all to this little island and I have no hesitation in giving up my claim on it. I don’t like to see such matters kept pending and raised again and again in Parliament." Later, PM Indira Gandhi called this island "a small rock". The claim of India was given up even though the then Attorney General and legal adviser to MEA argued that India should at minimum insist on fishing rights in the island.

Consequence

Fishing rights of Tamil Nadu fishermen in Katchatheevu were terminated in 1976. Over the past 20 years 6184 Indian fishermen have been detained by Sri Lanka and 1175 Indian fishing vessels apprehended. The emotive issue regarding the livelihoods of Indian fishermen in Tamil Nadu remains a hot political matter in Tamil Nadu. DMK has been raising it ever since with Jaishankar today disclosing he has written 21 replies to current Tamil Nadu CM Stalin in the past five years.

Why now, asks Opposition; why not, asks BJP

Jaishankar says the issue is still alive as fishermen and their vessels continue to be detained. He says people of Tamil Nadu have the right to know who did what and how the principal actors concealed the truth all these years.

POLITICAL ATTACK

Jaishankar said past PMs simply did not care about ceding Indian land. Nehru, he said, had no qualms giving up India's territory and for him Katchatheevu was a headache.

Indira Gandhi, Jaishankar says, called the island a small rock. "This island was not important to the Congress leaders. It was an inconvenience to be given away. For them it was a headache. There were parties like the Jana Sangh for whom every mm of Indian land mattered but for some (read Nehru) large tracts as in Aksai Chin also did not matter," Jaishankar said quoting Parliament records of how Nehru had referred to India's northern border as a place where "even a blade of grass does not grow."

Opposition take

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has said the BJP is trying to exploit an emotive issue of Tamil Nadu ahead of the phase one Lok Sabha poll voting in the state on April 19. All 39 Lok Sabha seats of Tamil Nadu go to polls on this day. Shiv Sena-UBT leader Priyanka Chaturvedi citing a 2015 RTI reply in the matter by S Jaishankar, then Foreign Secretary, asked today, "May be MEA will be able to address the discrepancy. As per RTI response in 2015 when current foreign minister was foreign secretary it was said -- "The 1974 agreement or the 1976 agreement did not involve either acquitting or ceding of territory belonging to India since the area in question had never been demarcated. Under the Agreement the island of Katchatheevu lies on the Sri Lankan side of the India Sri Lanka International Maritime Boundary Line." Chaturvedi asks, "Today the Foreign Minister and yesterday PM claimed that Indian territory has been ceded. Is the change in stance for their election politics or has Modiji made a case for Sri Lanka?"

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