19 March 2019 04:00 pm
The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) in its manifesto for the upcoming Indian Lok Sabha polls, had stated that it would urge the centre government to call for an international probe into alleged war crimes during the civil war in the north in Sri Lanka, Times Now News agency reported.
The manifesto, which was released on Tuesday by AIADMK Coordinator Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam and the party’s co-coordinator and Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, also brought to the fore the issue of releasing the seven convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, who are currently lodged in jail.
In an attempt to woo the fishing community, the AIADMK manifesto says the party will urge the Government of India to take appropriate exigent legal/ constitutional measures to redeem Katchatheevu as part of Indian Territory and restore the rights of Tamil Nadu fishermen.
Katchatheevu, an uninhabited 285-acre islet in the Palk Strait, ceded to Sri Lanka in 1974 by an agreement between the then two PMs (India's Indira Gandhi and Sri Lanka's Srimavo Bandaranaike) and is at the centre of a long-standing dispute between the fishermen of Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka.