Uptick of calls in India to repossess remote Sri Lanka island
“This is a serious issue and the Centre must register a strong protest with the Sri Lankan government,” V. Narayanasamy (Congress) said at the Indian Upper House (Rajya Sabha) recently. Mr. V. Narayanasamy was expressing serious concern over the killing of a fisherman and arrests of a few others by the Sri Lankan Navy recently, and urged the Government of India to take back the Kachatheevu island from Sri Lanka so that fishing could be made safer and easier for Indian fishermen. He stated that Kachatheevu was given to Sri Lanka under an international agreement, but Mr. Narayanasamy said the time has arrived for it to be taken back to safeguard Indian fishermen.
Demanding that the Coast Guard should ensure the fishermen’s safety and prevent them from straying into international waters, Communist Party of India leader D. Raja said: “They have the right to dry their nets on the island and visit the church there, and if the Sri Lankan government does not allow this, India should take back the island.”
The demands were supported by all the MPs, including the AIADMK and DMK members.
Besides stationing the Coast Guard at Rameswaram and Tuticorin to effectively patrol maritime borders, Mr. Narayanasamy demanded that the rights of Tamil Nadu fishermen to Kachatheevu be immediately restored.
In a report by Dinamani newspaper in Tamil Nadu Sunday Mar 23, A Congress leader in Tamil Nadu and Indian Upper House (Rajya Sabha) Member of Parliament, Sudarsana Natchiappan has said that the Indian Government was taking steps to take back Kachatheevu. Mr. Natchiappan was participating in the 66th state executive committee meeting of the Human Rights Division of the Congress Party at Raameasvaram.
The Feast of Saint Anthony, normally celebrated in March in Kachatheevu, a remote island off the Jaffna peninsula was canceled again this year. The governments of both Sri Lanka and India, citing increased hostilities, have banned travel to the island. Pilgrims have expressed disappointment on the travel ban. The shrine is a miraculous church, says Gregory Philip Ferminus, 68, who coordinates the Centre for Performing Arts, a well-known Church-run art center in Jaffna.
