The story so far: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K.Stalin, on Friday, revived the debate over Katchatheevu, an uninhabited and barren 285 acre islet about 14 nautical miles off Rameswaram, by reiterating the demand for retrieval from Sri Lanka, the course of which alone, according to him, would put a permanent end to the problems of fishermen of the State. Addressing a fishermen’s conference in Mandapam of Ramanathapuram district, he pointed out that following his letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, fishermen arrested by the Sri Lankan authorities, were released but the boats and fish nets, essential to the livelihoods of the fishermen, had not been returned. This was not the first time that Mr Stalin or, for that matter, his predecessors, had raised the matter. Last month, ahead of the visit of Sri Lanka’s President, Ranil Wickremesinghe, to New Delhi, the Chief Minister urged Mr Modi to raise the issue with the visiting dignitary.
When did Katchatheevu become a part of Sri Lanka?
During June 26-28, 1974, the then Prime Ministers of India and Sri Lanka, Indira Gandhi and Sirima R.D. Bandaranaike, signed an agreement to demarcate the boundary between the two countries in the historic waters from Palk Strait to Adam’s Bridge. A joint statement issued on June 28, 1974, stated that a boundary had been defined “in conformity with the historical evidence, legal international principles and precedents.” It also pointed out that “this boundary falls one mile off the west coast of the uninhabited” Katchatheevu. The pact brought to a close the talks held between the two sides since October 1921. Initially, the negotiations were held between the governments of the then Madras and Ceylon.
