Indian pilgrims reach Katchatheevu to take part in St Anthony's Church festival

Chennai: After a year’s gap, over 3,400 pilgrims, including fishermen, from Tamil Nadu on Friday sailed to Katchatheevu, a disputed territory ceded to Sri Lanka by India in 1974, to participate in the annual festival of St Anthony’s church, the only structure in the uninhabited island of just 285 acres.

As many as 3,464 people left from the Rameswaram fishing jetty in about 100 mechanized trawlers and country boats for the trip coordinated by the Ramanathapuram district administration, and the Indian Coast Guard, whose hovercrafts and patrol vessels escorted the boats.

They reached the island, about 12 nautical miles from Rameswaram, in about two-and-a-half hours, and joined about 4,000 pilgrims from various parts of Sri Lanka.

The pilgrims from the state had boycotted the annual festival in 2024 in protest against the attacks on fisherfolk by the Sri Lankan Navy for allegedly transgressing into the neighbouring country’s water.

However, fishermen from the Jaffna peninsula in northern Sri Lanka skipped this year’s event to draw attention to “snatching of their livelihoods” by their counterparts from India whom they accuse of degrading the marine environment through mechanized trawlers.

Indian fishermen are allowed inside the Katchatheevu island, sandwiched between the two countries in the Palk Bay, once in a year without passport and visa ever since both countries signed an agreement and exchanged letters on the fishing rights in 1974 and 1976.

However, fishermen from both countries were barred from visiting the island between 1982 and 2011 due to the civil war in the island country and the tradition was revived in 2012.

The St Anthony festival began at 4 pm with the flag hoisting ceremony and the annual mass and holy procession will begin at 7 am on Saturday following which the Indian pilgrims will return home. The two-day prayers will be presided over by priests from India and Sri Lanka.

“Our pilgrims have reached Katchatheevu today and we believe fishermen like me are also allowed in the island to fish and dry their nets like we did in the past. Only if our traditional fishing rights are restored, can we live in peace without fearing the Sri Lankan Navy,” N Devadoss, President of Rameswaram Fishermen Association, told DH over the phone.

Jennifer from Thanjavur district said she was excited to sail to Katchatheevu for the first time in her life. “I had heard about the shrine on the island but never got a chance to visit. I find myself lucky to be among the 3,400 people who are visiting the island to participate in the annual festival,” she said.

Holding a significant place in the hearts of fishermen from both countries, the St Anthony's Catholic Shrine was dedicated in 1905 after it was built by an Seenikuppan Padayatchi of the Ramnad Catholic diocese.

Katchatheevu, said to be owned by the Rajah of Ramanathapuram, was ceded to Sri Lanka in 1974 by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. An agreement in 1976 declared the island as a ‘No Go Zone’ for Indians, leading to a battle for fish between Tamil fishermen from India and Sri Lanka – who had always flaunted the “umbilical cord” connection between them as they speak the same language and share civilizational and cultural links.