Chennai: The Indian fishermen have no right to fish near Katchatheevu and are entitled to only dry their nets on the island; besides, almost all the attacks by the Lankan navy on Indian fishermen have taken place only in Sri Lankan waters, the Union government told the Madras high court on Tuesday.
The 1974 Indo-Lanka accord did not confer fishing rights at Katchatheevu to Indians, Mr Vishwesh, deputy secretary for Sri Lanka Maldives and Indian Ocean Region (SM&IOR) said in a rejoinder for the PILs filed by president Peter Rayan of ‘Fisherman Care’ seeking direction to the Union government to clarify the statement made by the external affairs minister in Parliament on August 22 last year regarding the Tamil Nadu fishernmen crossing the international maritime boundary line (IMBL).
In another PIL, Mr Rayan sought direction to the Union government to take diplomatic steps to secure the release of the TN fishermen languishing in Sri Lankan jails and also to take up the issue of the Sri Lankan Navy frequently attacking and arresting the TN fishermen so as to arrive at a permanent solution to the issue.
A division bench comprising acting chief justice Satish K. Agnihotri and Justice M. M. Sundresh posted after two weeks, further hearing of the case. In his affidavit, Mr Vishwesh submitted that the 1974 and 1976 agreements had not bestowed fishing rights in Lankan waters as claimed by the petitioner.
Those agreements had only enabled access to Katchatheevu for the Indian fishermen to dry their nets and for pilgrims to participate in the annual St. Anthony festival, he said, while stressing that the agreements had clearly conceded that Katchtheevu was on the Sri Lankan side of the IMBL.
Further, the agreements were laid before Parliament and as far as the Indian government was concerned, the IMBL between India and Sri Lanka and consequently the sovereignty over Katchatheevu was a “settled matter”, Mr Vishwesh submitted before the high court.
At the same time, India had repeatedly emphasised to Colombo that there was no justification for the use of force against Indian fishermen even though almost all instances of alleged harassment of fishermen seem to have occurred in Lankan waters.
However, in doing so, India was guided by the international diplomatic norms governing interaction with another sovereign government which has full sovereign powers to patrol its territorial waters.
The dangers of straying across the IMBL and cross border fishing have been explained and emphasised to the TN fishermen by the state government and the Coast Guard. Thanks to these efforts, no case of deaths of Indian fishermen have been reported after April 2011, Mr Vishwesh told the court in his affidavit.
