Katchatheevu Island Controversy: Background, Concerns, and Way Forward

Context

Recently, the Indian Prime Minister’s post on social media of ‘callously‘ giving away the disputed territory of Katchatheevu Island to Sri Lanka in 1974 has resurfaced the issue again.

• In late February, fishermen associations in Ramanathapuram district boycotted the annual two-day festival, as a mark of protest against the Sri Lankan Government’s at the St. Anthony’s Church, in Katchatheevu Island on continuing arrests of Indian fishermen.

About Katchatheevu Island

• Katchatheevu means ‘barren island’ in Tamil.
• Location: Katchatheevu Island is a 285-acre uninhabited region in the Palk Strait, between India and Sri Lanka. 

Katchatheevu Island Map

• • It is located 33 km off the Indian coast to the northeast of Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu, and about 62 km southwest of Sri Lanka’s Delft Island.
• Formation: Katchatheevu Island is a tiny barren island and according to some official reports, it was created following a 14th-century volcanic eruption (hence, relatively new in the geological timescale), is 1.6 km in length and just 300 metres wide at its widest point.
• Built by: It was built in 1905 by Ramnad merchant Seenikuppan Padayachi, intended as a halfway ground for Indo-Lankan fishers for drying nets or asylums during tempests.
• Features of Katchatheevu Island
  • Katchatheevu Island is not suited for permanent settlement as there is no source of drinking water on the island.
  • The only structure on the island is an early 20th-century Catholic shrine – St Anthony’s Church. 
    • During an annual festival, Christian priests from both India and Sri Lanka conduct the service, with devotees from both India and Sri Lanka making the pilgrimage.
• Significance of Katchatheevu Island: The island had little strategic value then, but over the last decade, geopolitical dimensions changed due to the rising clout of China and its growing influence over Sri Lanka, making it a location of strategic importance for India.
• Concern: Katchatheevu Island is an unofficial battlefield between Indian Tamil fishers and a Sinhala-dominated Lankan navy. 
  • Reason: It is due to complex factors like excessive trawling in the Sethusamudram region, contested legacies of the Lankan civil war, and the bilateral irresolution of the Tamil question.

Katchatheevu Island Controversy and Agreements

• Background of Katchatheevu Island Controversy:

  • In the early medieval period, it was controlled by the Jaffna kingdom of Sri Lanka. 
  • In the 17th century, control passed to the Ramnad zamindari based out of Ramanathapuram, about 55 km northwest of Rameswaram.
  • It became part of the Madras Presidency during the British Raj. 

• Katchatheevu Island Controversy: 

  • In 1921, both India and Sri Lanka, at the time British colonies, claimed Katchatheevu in order to determine fishing boundaries. 
  • A survey was placed, but a British delegation from India challenged this, citing ownership of the island by the Ramnad kingdom.
  • The island was under the control of the kingdom of Ramanad Raja, a zamindari from 1795 to 1803 in Ramanathapuram in the Madras Presidency. 

• Indo-Sri Lankan Maritime Agreement, 1974: 

  • In 1974, then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi made attempts to settle the maritime border between India and Sri Lanka.
    • Under the agreement, India ‘ceded’ Katchatheevu to Sri Lanka.
    • However, the agreement did not specify the fishing rights of Indian fishermen.

• Agreement of 1976: 

  • In this agreement, the two countries drew the maritime boundary between India and Sri Lanka in the Gulf of Mannar and the Bay of Bengal and made it clear that the two countries will exercise sovereign rights over the living and non-living resources of their respective zones.
    • India got exclusive rights over Wadge Bank (located near Cape Comorin).
    • It ended the Indian fishermen’s visits to the island.
      • Katchatheevu Island and the adjoining seas naturally fell within Sri Lanka’s jurisdiction.

• Opposition to the Agreement: 

  • Most of the Opposition including the DMK, AIADMK, Jan Sangh, Swatantara and the Socialist Party, opposed the agreement.
    • In 1991, then Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, urged the centre to retrieve Katchatheevu and restore the fishing rights for Tamil Fishermen and Tamil Nadu Assembly also adopted a resolution demanding retrieval of Katchatheevu.

• Legal Status: 

• • Even though there have been protests and petitions to get back Katchatheevu, the Indian Supreme Court has said that the agreement made in 1974 is still valid. 
    • In 2014, the major political parties of Tamil Nadu, AIADMK and DMK, approached the Supreme Court to declare the Katchatheevu agreements of 1974 and 1976, as null and void.
    • Stand by the Union Government: In 2022, while referring to the two agreements of 1974 and 1976, said in the Rajya Sabha that Katchatheevu lies on the Sri Lankan side of the India-Sri Lanka International Maritime Boundary Line and the matter was sub-judice in the Supreme Court.

Significance of the Signed Agreement

• A Safety Move from Emanating Threats: India’s “loss” was minuscule compared to prospective strategic and political threats emanating from Lankan territories and partners.
• Strengthened  Bilateral Relations: The 1974 agreement addressed the maritime boundary dispute between India and Sri Lanka and paved the way for better understanding. 
  • The then-Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Vincent Coelho, described the session as “a masterstroke of statesmanship to the satisfaction of both India and Ceylon.”
• Restoration of Image: Katchatheevu’s cession restored India’s generous diplomacy, which, at international forums, such as the UN, reaffirmed the nationalistic outlook, especially after India’s role in the Bangladeshi War of Liberation. 
• A Diplomatic Masterstroke: Katchatheevu Island’s cession was an act of drowning the colonial divide-and-rule policy in the Indian Ocean. In return, the Indian administration secured the: 
  • Indian Ocean as a zone of peace in the face of growing American and Soviet regimentation.
  • Continued friendship with Sri Lanka in the face of an increasingly volatile South Asian neighbourhood.
  • The reprioritisation of Lankan Tamil expatriates.
  • Legalised the free mobility of Indian pilgrims and fishers to Katchatheevu.

Concerns with the Katchatheevu Island that India Needs to Address

• Detaining of Indian Fishing Vessels & Fishermen: 

  • Indian fishing vessels and fishermen from Tamil Nadu are often held by Sri Lankan authorities.
    • In the last 20 years, 6,184 Indian fishermen had been detained and 1,185 fishing vessels had been seized by the Sri Lankans.
    • In 2022, a Lankan court asked 13 arrested Indian fishers to pay a fine of Rs 10 million.

• Challenge of Livelihoods for Traditional Fishing Communities: 

  • The Katchatheevu Island served as a traditional fishing ground for fishermen and its controversy has restricted the mobility of traditional fishing communities in coastal waters. 
    • It is difficult for traditional fishing communities to sustain their livelihood and impact economic stability. 

• Impact on Religion & Cultural Values: 

  • The Katchatheevu Island controversy has impacted the cultural and religious values of the Indo-Srilankan region. 
    • Example: Recent boycott of the annual two-day festival at St. Anthony’s Church on continuing arrests of Indian fishermen.

• Threat of Chinese Aggression: 

  • With the rise of assertive China in the last decade, and its exploits overseas, experts perceived a threat from a potential Chinese hold in the Katchatheevu and the entire Palk Strait.
    • Example: Hambantota is a testimony of how vulnerable Sri Lanka has been to Chinese interference and presence in the region. 

• Internal Opposition: 

  • The transfer of Katchatheevu Island was opposed, particularly from Tamil Nadu.
    • Example: In 1991, Tamil Nadu Assembly also adopted a resolution demanding retrieval of Katchatheevu.
    • It needs to be understood that the Katchatheevu cession was not new and first in India. Earlier land territories were also ceded to Bangladesh and Pakistan.
      • Practically, there was no ceding (of the island) as earlier the maritime boundary was not demarcated and also the island contained no practical, political, or even pastoral value.

• Enforcement Challenges: 

• • Successive Indian administrations, especially during and after the Lankan Civil War, were not successful in enforcing the agreements.

• Other Issues: 

• • Tamil Nadu’s continued incentivisation of trawling and risky foraging across the maritime border, ecological crises and the deviations between Lankan bilateral and domestic policies.
    • Example: In 2018, Sri Lanka amended its Regulation of Foreign Fishing Boats Act (1979) to amplify the penalty levied on trespassing foreign vessels to charge anything between six million and 175 million SLR (local currency). 

Way Forward

• Stick to Signed Agreement: 

  • Reopening old agreements would set a bad precedent and will damage India’s credibility too. India needs to maintain its stand on the signed agreement.
    • Example: If there is a change in the original agreement, it would raise concerns for countries that have finalised land boundary agreements with India like Bangladesh.

• A Collaborative Approach: 

  • In order to sort out the issues such as fishermen detentions and restriction on mobilities, both countries need to discuss the issue and mutually come out with a win-win solution. 
    • Both countries need to collaborate on emerging issues and tackle them such as ecological crisis, health issues, cybersecurity, etc. 

• Need to Improve Relations with Neighbours: 

  • India must work to improve and not deteriorate its relations in the neighbourhood. 
    • With the Chinese aggressively making inroads and enhancing its ties in India’s neighbourhood with its project- string of pearls, India must maintain good relations with the neighbours for a stable region.

• Expand the Strategic Focus: 

• • Indian foreign policy has evolved in the past decade and now regions from the South Pacific to the African coast are integral to India’s strategic focus.
    • Example: India’s new engagement with the resource-rich Papua New Guinea in the Pacific Islands, the joint development of infrastructure on the Agalega island of Mauritius, the collaboration with Australia in the eastern Indian Ocean islands, or the focus on developing the Andamans to our east and the Lakshadweep to the west.

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