Indian claims to Katchatheevu and undisclosed defence co-operation MOUs

Today,  Lanka’s northern fishermen who once misguidedly called for India’s help during the ethnic crisis, are calling on the Lankan government to stop Indian poaching off northern waters

India’s Minister of External Affairs -- the ever charming, confident and pleasant Dr. Jaishankar -- is not so polite whenever the Modi regime is at the receiving end of criticism regarding, Indian rights to Sri Lankan fishing grounds. He becomes even more agitated when it has to do with the Lankan navy protecting the rights of the Lankan fishing community in the north.

It has now become quite a boring habit of the Indian External Affairs Minister (EAM) to drag out his self-perpetuating myth regarding the ownership of the island of Katchatheevu-in reality an integral part of Sri Lanka- and recognised so by a document signed by the Indian and Lankan governments around fifty years ago. India in fact ceded the small island of Katchatheevu to Sri Lanka in 1974.

Rather than clarifying the issue with fishermen in South India, Minister Jaishankar is politicising the issue to score cheap political points over the Congress Party under whose stewardship the agreement was worked out.

As our sister paper the ‘Sunday Times’ pointed out, even the then Opposition parties in India which included BJP leaders like Atal Bihari Vajpai and LK Advani who helped bring down the then Congress government, never challenged India’s sovereign agreement with Sri Lanka on Katchatheevu.

On Thursday,  our own Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath  in a rather bold statement said our country would never agree to let go of a part of Sri Lanka which is Katchatheevu. He added the agreement is deemed so under international law. 

We say ‘bold statement’ as we do not know whether the minister can make such statements under the terms of the secret Defence Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between our two countries. We do not know whether under the secretive MOU, the minister has the power to make such statements without Indian permission. Did he make it in consultation with his counterparts in New Delhi? Or perhaps, did he forget the terms of the MOU before he spoke.

According to Economy Next of 15th May this year which published part of the ‘secret’ document; the Indian High Commission in Colombo declined to comment on the text of the MOU and said it “cannot confirm the contents, as that is strictly between official authorities of the two States and is subject to mutual confidentiality”.

According to the Economy Next report, officials from both countries have indicated that the Defence Co-operation MOU has formalised the already existing informal procedures related to the defence of both countries.

But this again is merely hearsay. What we do know,  however, is that until recently, India’s External Affairs Minister used to travel to the north of our country to parley with regional political parties in the north regarding political and other problems in that area. 

Mmmm… would the government of India be happy to let Foreign Ministers from third countries hold separate talks with for example the Mizoram National Front (MNF) or similar groups in India? The MNF had earlier taken up arms against the Indian government. It has since renounced violence and become a political party.

It does seem as if our sovereignty is being taken for granted. We as a country appreciate the help India extended to us during the time our country declared itself bankrupt. But issues of national sovereignty cannot be compromised. It would, as we mentioned earlier, be better if the Indian External Affairs Minister could stop playing politics.

Large numbers of people in this country are concerned and beginning to fear India is taking Lanka’s sovereignty for granted. They fear claiming fishing rights in Lankan waters is only a starting point.

In addition,  these Indian trawlers which poach in Lankan waters use what is known as bottom trawling methods,  process which catches even fingerlings, thus desertifying the ocean and destroying all marine resources. In the end,  these practices will pauperise northern fishermen in addition to destroying an important section of the Lankan economy.

Today,  Lanka’s northern fishermen who once misguidedly called for India’s help during the ethnic crisis, are calling on the Lankan government to stop Indian poaching off northern waters. The wheel has turned full circle. In actuality, the Indian government should not be complaining. Both the government of India and environmentalists the world over should be praising Lanka for preventing these vessels which use environmentally degrading methods from operating in our waters.