The annual feast for the religious at St Antony’s church on the Sri Lankan island of Katchatheevu, positioned within the uneven waters of Palk Strait, was revived in March 2010 after almost three many years.
The century-old church bells had remained silent for the reason that Nineteen Eighties due to the civil struggle between Tamil rebels and the Sri Lankan authorities.
A bunch of fishermen from India, Tamil devotees from the northern a part of Sri Lanka, native authorities officers and Lankan navy officers had been amongst those that attended the celebration on the barren piece of land, positioned 18km off Dhanuskodi ,close to Rameshwaram, that yr.
The competition, celebrated beneath the watchful eyes of the Sri Lankan navy, has continued on the 285-acre island yearly since then.
This yr, nevertheless, Indian fishermen boycotted it in protest towards the arrest of members of their neighborhood by Sri Lankan authorities.
The boycott didn’t actually make greater than native information although; Indian fishermen have continuously obtained into hassle in Sri Lankan waters for apparently fishing in overseas seas and utilizing bottom-trawling boats.
Simply over a month later, nevertheless, a political controversy is raging in India over the small island, used for drying fishing nets and for fishermen to relaxation, pray and gossip, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted that the Congress “callously gave away” Katchatheevu to Sri Lanka within the Seventies.
Exterior affairs minister S Jaishankar waded in at a press convention, saying the difficulty had been “hidden too lengthy from the gaze of the general public”.
Former Tamil Nadu chief ministers J Jayalalithaa and M Karunanidhi had introduced up the difficulty of the island’s possession with New Delhi earlier.
The rights of Indian fishermen are sometimes linked to the island and its surrounding waters because it has been argued that by “ceding” it to Sri Lanka, the Indian authorities curtailed the livelihood rights of its personal individuals within the southern state.
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The Background
The small island was administered by the British within the colonial period. Traditionally, the Raja of Ramnad or present-day Ramanathapuram in Tamil Nadu is alleged to have owned the island, which later grew to become a part of the Madras Presidency.
By the Twenties, each Sri Lanka and India needed it solely for fishing and the dispute remained unsettled for many years after that. Each international locations grew to become unbiased within the Forties and the dispute dragged on.
“The dispute was formally raised by (Sri Lankan) Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake on his official go to to India in December 1968 who mentioned it with the Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and formally said his place that there was no query as such of sovereignty over Kachchativu (Katchatheevu) inasmuch it was a part of Sri Lanka’s territory. This grew to become a serious challenge with India in view of its personal claims to it supported by that of the Rajah of Ramnad,” the information web site, Sri Lankan Guardian, mentioned in a report revealed on Tuesday.
New Delhi and Colombo labored in direction of settling the dispute – as soon as and for all – over the subsequent six years.
Whereas the exterior affairs ministry led the talks from India’s facet, naval hydrographers performed a key function in working in direction of a decision.
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The Decision
Following talks held between June 26 and 28, 1974, the prime ministers of India and Sri Lanka, Indira Gandhi and Sirimavo Bandaranaike, signed an settlement to demarcate the boundary between the 2 international locations within the waters from Palk Strait to Adam’s Bridge.
It was known as the Settlement between Sri Lanka and India on the Boundary in Historic Waters between the 2 International locations and Associated Issues of 1974
A joint assertion issued on June 28, 1974, said {that a} boundary had been outlined “in conformity with the historic proof, authorized worldwide rules and precedents.”
It additionally identified that “this boundary falls one mile off the west coast of the uninhabited” Katchatheevu.
Article 4 of the Settlement stipulated that every State shall have sovereignty and unique jurisdiction and management over the waters, the Islands, the Continental Shelf and the sub soil on its facet of the Maritime boundary within the Palk Strait and Palk Bay and Katchatheevu Island was decided as falling inside Sri Lankan waters.
The next article added that “Indian fishermen and pilgrims would get pleasure from entry to the island as earlier than and wouldn’t be required by Sri Lanka to acquire journey paperwork or visas for these functions”.
The 1974 settlement was adopted by a second one in 1976: The Settlement between India and Sri Lanka on the Maritime Boundary Between The Two International locations In The Gulf Of Mannar And The Bay of Bengal And Associated Issues of 1976.
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The Perspective
“The difficulty had lengthy dragged on from earlier than the independence of the 2 international locations: Whether or not the Katchatheevu island belonged to India or Sri Lanka? Dragged on for a number of many years and was negotiated at numerous ranges,” Ashok Ok Kantha, who was India’s excessive commissioner to Sri Lanka between 2009 and 2013, mentioned.
He added: “The 1974 settlement addressed the maritime boundary dispute between India and Sri Lanka and paved the best way for higher understanding: It addressed all the present ambiguities… There was no ceding (of the island). The query didn’t come up as a result of the maritime boundary was not demarcated.
For the reason that two agreements had been signed, successive governments have continued to respect them
“Atal Bihari Vajpayee had spoken towards the settlement in 1974. However later, throughout his prime ministership, his authorities continued with it,” a retired diplomat, who didn’t want to be named, mentioned, including that it’s a settled matter and can’t be resurrected.
“The island was given to Sri Lanka on the idea of a bilateral settlement in 1974. To retrieve it now, we’ve got to go to struggle,” then lawyer normal Mukul Rohatgi advised the Supreme Courtroom, on August 27, 2014, forward of listening to petitions on retrieving the island.
There’s at all times give and absorb border negotiations, former envoy Kantha mentioned.
Actually, in a separate 1976 settlement with Sri Lanka, India obtained unique rights over Wadge Financial institution, a a lot greater space, positioned close to Cape Comorin.
Within the case of the 1974 settlement, the “steadiness of proof” favoured Sri Lanka, the retired diplomat quoted above mentioned.