Negotiate fresh agreement with Sri Lanka to allow fishermen around Katchatheevu: CM Stalin to PM

Chennai: Chief Minister M K Stalin on Monday nudged the Union Government to negotiate a “fresh agreement” with Sri Lanka to facilitate Tamil Nadu fishermen to fish around the disputed island of Katchatheevu in the Palk Straits, in a solution to stop Indian fisherfolk from getting attacked and arrested by the island nation’s Navy.

Seeking Prime Minister’s “direct intervention” in the sensitive issue, Stalin said the BJP-led Union Government should take steps towards asking Sri Lanka to repeal its 2018 law of nationalizing boats seized from Indian fishermen, release the boats impounded, and stop imposing hefty fines on the fishermen who are arrested and produced before local courts.

Addressing a government function in Nagapattinam, Stalin said about 3,656 fishermen from Tamil Nadu, especially Ramanathapuram, Nagapattinam, Thanjavur, and Pudukkottai were arrested and 611 mechanized boats seized by the Sri Lankan Navy in the past 11 years after Modi assumed office as Prime Minister in May 2014.

He also accused the Union Government of “doing nothing” to stop attacks against fishermen from Tamil Nadu, despite External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s assertions that efforts are being taken to find a solution for the problem.

Stalin’s comments come as the attacks on Indian fishermen and their arrest in the Palk Strait continues unabated and 10 months after Modi accused the then Congress and DMK governments at the Centre and in TN of “gifting” Katchatheevu to Sri Lanka. The Prime Minister’s comments had triggered a row with fishermen in Tamil Nadu asking Modi to list the measures he took to resolve the issue or retrieve the tiny uninhabited island of just 285 acres.

“The Union Government should first consider Tamil Nadu fishermen as Indian fishermen…As Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, I appeal to the Union Government to negotiate a new agreement with Sri Lanka to allow fishermen from the state to fish around Katchatheevu,” Stalin said.

The Chief Minister has echoed the demands of fishermen from Tamil Nadu who want their traditional fishing rights in Palk Straits restored with access to fish in and around Katchatheevu. His assertions are also a departure from his earlier stand that the Union Government should retrieve the island from Sri Lanka.

Even granting fishing rights around the island won’t solve the current problem as Sri Lankan Tamil fishermen oppose bottom trawlers, considered ecologically destructive, used by their Indian counterparts. Fishermen on the other side of the Palk Strait allege that Indian trawlers come like a flotilla, especially after it gets dark, deep inside the Sri Lankan waters to places like Mannar, Jaffna, and Mullaitivu.

Katchatheevu, said to be owned by the Rajah of Ramanathapuram, was ceded to Sri Lanka in 1974 by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and an agreement in 1976 declared the island as a ‘No Go Zone’ for Indians, leading to a bitter 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.

Stalin also accused the Union Government of not convening the Joint Working Group (JWG) consisting of fishermen and officials from both countries for the past few years. The arrest of Indian fishermen from Pudukkottai, Nagapattinam, Thanjavur, and Ramanathapuram districts in Tamil Nadu and Karaikal by the Sri Lankan Navy has been a recurring affair in the Palk Strait for the past few decades.