No intention of ceding Katchatheevu island, says Lankan foreign minister

S Jaishankar said the issue of Sri Lanka arresting Indian fishermen stems from an agreement during the Emergency, imposed in 1975, under which their rights for fishing in specific areas were given up

Sri Lanka has no intention to cede the Katchatheevu island, Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath said, calling the "rumblings" in India an issue between the political parties there.

We have our diplomatic channels open to resolve the issue, but what is certain is Sri Lanka will never agree to let go of a part of Sri Lanka which is Katchatheevu and established so by international law," Herath on Thursday told Sirasa TV in response to a question on frequent arrests of Indian fishermen in Sri Lankan waters. 

 

 

Fishermen from both India and Sri Lanka are arrested frequently for inadvertently trespassing into each other's waters.

India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on June 27 said the issue of Sri Lanka arresting Indian fishermen stems from an agreement during the Emergency, imposed in 1975, under which their rights for fishing in some specific areas were given up.

Herath, however, brushed off the issue, saying that "rumblings" over the Katchatheevu issue are "political sparring between the BJP at the centre and the opposition Congress Party." 

 

Katchatheevu, an uninhabited island, was ceded to Sri Lanka by the then-Indira Gandhi regime in the country under a maritime agreement in 1974.

Further, another agreement signed in 1976 restricted the fishermen of both countries from fishing in each other's exclusive economic zones.

Herath accused the Indian fishermen of venturing into Sri Lanka's maritime border to do fishing near Katchatheevu, adding that they not only "plunder the fishing resources" but also damage sea plants. 

 

But we know for sure the central Indian government is not in favour of continuous illegal fishing in the Sri Lankan waters, Herath added.

The fishermen issue is a contentious one in the ties between India and Sri Lanka, with Lankan Navy personnel even firing at Indian fishermen in the Palk Strait and seizing their boats in several alleged incidents of illegally entering the island nation's territorial waters.