Chennai: Singari Alex’s two sons and a grandson were among the 42 Tamil Nadu fishermen captured by the Sri Lankan navy on charges of poaching along the Palk Bay in two separate incidents in the first week of February.
The Sri Lankan navy, so far this year, has arrested 69 fishermen from Tamil Nadu for entering its territorial waters, sparking a fresh agitation among the fishermen community. While 38 fishermen held in February are free now, four, including one of Singari’s sons, will serve jail time.
In protest, the Tamil Nadu fishermen community boycotted a festival held on 23 and 24 February at St. Antony’s Church on the isle of Katchatheevu. It is the second time in the past eight years that the Indian side has boycotted the annual festival, usually attended by the Indian and Sri Lankan fishermen.
“With our fishermen in Sri Lankan prison still, how can we celebrate the festival? What crime did these fishermen do but carry on with their traditional occupation of fishing in traditional waters?” fishermen leader P. Jesu Raja told ThePrint.
The Sri Lanka navy had captured Singari’s sons — Jalson Alex (40) and Mecton Alex (38) — and grandson Antony Pismer (24) and seized their boat, Shalita. Of the three, Jalson, who was driving their boat, has been sentenced to six months in jail.
Singari said, “My granddaughter went to school, hoping she will return to see her father (Jalson) today. We do not know how we will survive or pay back the loan for the boat.”
P. Jesu Raja said the festival boycott will highlight their demand for justice for the arrested Indian fishermen. Another demand is to bring Katchatheevu, a rich fishing ground, back into India’s fold. In 1974-76, India ceded the isle to Sri Lanka through maritime agreements.
“There were 28 nautical miles between Rameswaram and Sri Lanka earlier. But, after the cessation of Katchatheevu to Sri Lanka, our maritime border became just 12 nautical miles — the distance between Rameswaram and Katchatheevu,” said Jesu Raj.
On 20 February, fishermen from Rameswaram, Thangachimadam, and Pamban had taken out a protest march, called off midway after Ramanathapuram collector B. Vishnu Chandran assured them the state and the Centre were taking necessary action for the release of the fishermen.
On 19 February, fishermen from Ramanathapuram and Nagercoil met Union External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in New Delhi with their demands. These included ensuring the fishermen’s safety and the removal of the draconian Sri Lankan law that imposes fines and jail time on fishermen, as well as retrieving Katchatheevu.
Singari said his family, like most Rameswaram fishing families, live in constant fear. “Fishing is our only hope for survival. But when we go to the sea, our men get shot, chased, arrested and sometimes killed,” she said.
Singari’s family had borrowed money and bought Shalita with Rs 25 lakh only a year ago, but it’s gone now. The Rameswaram fishermen claim that since 2018, the Sri Lankan government has seized 150 boats.
“We are no smugglers or terrorists but just Indian fishermen following our traditional occupation. Why are we treated like criminals? Why are our governments (state and Centre) not worried about our plight?” asked Jalson’s brother-in-law Enoke Jesu, whose two boats were among the 25 seized in October 2023.
“A boat is like a family member, and our livelihood depends on the boat. The Sri Lankan government has taken the boat and the men of the family into custody. We are all shattered,” added Enoke.
Also read: Sri Lankan Navy takes 19 Indian fishermen into custody for fishing near Delft Island
Katchatheevu isle & festival
Jesu Raj, recounting the story of the isle from the early 1900s, said Ramnad merchant Seenikuppan Padayachi was on a voyage, and the sea suddenly turned rough. Padayachi and his men landed on Katchatheevu for safety. When the sea became calm again, he found an idol of St. Anthony. He concluded that the saint saved their lives. The merchant, in 1905, built the church as a layover for fishermen from India and Sri Lanka.
Once a year in the season of Lent, fishermen and pilgrims from the two countries participate in the festival held there. This year, in the last week of January, Jaffna diocese vicar general P. Joseph Das Jebaratnam issued the invitation to the festival. Later, Rameswaram parish priest M. Santiago called for people to register for the festival before 6 February.
But, with the fishermen and owners of mechanised boats calling for an indefinite strike, priest Santiago on21 February announced the cancellation of the pilgrimage from Tamil Nadu.
This time, 3,455 pilgrims had registered for the festival. The parish had arranged for 72 mechanised boats and 28 country boats to take them to Katchatheevu. The pilgrims would get back the ferry charges, according to M. Santiago.
The fishermen boycotted the Katchatheevu festival last time in 2017 when the Sri Lanka navy allegedly shot and killed a 23-year-old fisherman from Rameswaram.
The Katchatheevu isle, a 285-acre uninhabited isle in the Palk Strait, is rich in prawns, chank shells, pearl oysters, and corals. It has been a sought-after fishing region by Indian and Sri Lankan fishermen since 1921.
Fishermen in Rameswaram claimed that historically, Ramanathapuram, the raja of Ramnad, owned the isle. Several recorded materials support the claim. These include lease agreements between the raja and the Dutch East India Company and British East India Company.
After delimitation of the Gulf of Mannar and Palk Strait, the isle became a part of the Madras Presidency during British rule. But in 1921, a dispute began between the then-Indian government and Ceylon (erstwhile Sri Lanka) over the isle’s ownership. While the Indian delegation staked a claim, citing ownership by the raja, the Sri Lankan side claimed St. Antony’s Church as the property of the Jaffna diocese.
Even after the countries won independence, Katchatheevu continued to be a contentious topic.
In 1974, then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi ceded the isle to Sri Lanka in the Indo-Sri Lankan maritime agreement. This move faced stiff resistance from then CM of Tamil Nadu M. Karunanidhi, who wrote to the former PM about Ramnad’s ownership of the isle. However, another agreement in 1976 confirmed the maritime boundary and took away the rights of Indian fishermen to go to the Sri Lanka side.
The 1976 agreement, said Jesu Raj, was the nail in the coffin for the Ramanathapuram fishermen. “Back then, we used to have fishermen from Sri Lanka coming to our side and fishing. We used to go to Neduntheevu, Yalpanam (Jaffna), etc.,” he said.
After the two agreements, the Sri Lankan civil war began in 1983, and the Sri Lankan navy started targeting Tamil Nadu fishermen. “Once the civil war began, we were targeted on the suspicion that we were supporting the Sri Lankan Tamils. To date, 400 fishermen have been killed, more than 1,000 have been left handicapped due to bullet wounds, and close to 2,000 have gone missing,” claimed Jesu Raj.
Also read: Hold India-Sri Lanka Jt Working Group meet, help resolve fishers’ woes, TN govt tells Centre
Politically-sensitive issue
Politically, the Katchatheevu issue has had a significant impact in Tamil Nadu. The DMK and AIADMK, during their respective rules, alleged the other was not doing the needful to bring back the isle into India’s fold.
According to both parties, the Centre’s decision to cede the isle to Sri Lanka violated a 1960 Supreme Court order that had stopped the Indian government from conceding Berubari in West Bengal to Bangladesh. The court had stated that the cessation of an Indian territory was possible only after a Constitutional amendment passed both houses of Parliament.
After the Sri Lankan civil war, then Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court in 2008, stating that the 1974 and 1976 agreements had affected the livelihood of the Indian fishermen.
In 2014, Mukul Rohatagi, the then attorney general, told the Supreme Court, “Katchatheevu went to Sri Lanka by an agreement in 1974… How can it be taken back today?… You will have to go to war to get it back.”
In June 2016, Katchatheevu became an issue on the state assembly floor as the DMK questioned the efforts of the ruling AIADMK in this matter. In response, then-chief minister Jayalalithaa said, “After sleeping all these years, the DMK is now behaving like Rip Van Winkle.”
The AIADMK has been alleging that the DMK, which was in power in 1974, did not approach the Supreme Court on the issue when then Jan Sangh leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee was going to approach SC. The DMK, on the other hand, has been accusing the AIADMK of not signing an all-party resolution against the Centre’s decision to give away Katchatheevu.
Later, in 2016, Jayalalithaa met PM Narendra Modi to find a way to retrieve the isle, but there was no resolution.
Chief Minister M.K. Stalin submitted two memorandums to PM Modi on 17 June 2021 and 1 April 2022, demanding the retrieval of Katchatheevu, noting its cessation deprived the Tamil Nadu fishermen of their rights.
After MDMK M.P. Vaiko brought up the issue again in 2022, Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan said, “The government of India concluded maritime boundary agreements with Sri Lanka in 1974 and 1976. Under the agreements, the island of Katchatheevu lies on the Sri Lankan side of the India-Sri Lanka international maritime boundary line.”
He said the matter is pending in SC, adding that “issues about Indian fishermen are taken up through diplomatic channels and established mechanisms”.
During a debate on a no-confidence motion brought by the opposition in 2023, PM Modi had mentioned Katchatheevu, hitting out at Rahul Gandhi for his now-expunged claim that “Bharat Mata” is becoming an unparliamentary word. “Somebody gave it (Katchatheevu) to another country. It happened under the leadership of Indira Gandhi. Wasn’t that part of Maa Bharati there?” the PM asked.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)