The idea of a resumption of talks between the fishing communities of Tamil Nadu and the Northern Province in Sri Lanka to resolve the fisheries dispute in the Palk Bay is again gaining ground.
K.S. Radhakrishnan, a writer-political activist, in his recently-launched, revised edition of the Tamil book Kanavagipona Katchatheevu - Katchatheevu that became a dream, expresses apprehension that the dispute might assume bigger proportions.
Recalling the previous rounds of talks between the two sides, the author states that the Tamil Nadu fishermen are conscious that their counterparts in the Northern Province are trying to earn a livelihood after having gone through the trauma of a prolonged civil war.
Emphasising that the current period of a ban on fishing can be used for initiating the negotiation process again, Jesuraj, president, Indian Traditional Fishermen’s Association, says that till the assumption of office by a new government at the Centre, the fishermen of the Northern Province and Tamil Nadu can meet initially, followed by government-to-government talks in the midst of representatives of the two fishing communities.
The idea of holding talks again has caught the imagination of the fishing community across the Bay.
Annalingam Annarasa, convenor of the Federation of Traditional Fishermen Associations in the Province’s four districts — Mullativu, Mannar, Jaffna and Killinochchi, says his colleagues are ready for talks, and a formal request is to be submitted this week to the Fisheries and Foreign Affairs Ministers of Sri Lanka, in addition to the Consul-General of India in Jaffna.
He points out that the last round of negotiations took place in New Delhi in November 2016 .
Last month, during the campaign in Tamil Nadu for the Lok Sabha election, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his party, the BJP, triggered a controversy over the Katchatheevu islet.
Mr. Radhakrishnan, who was formerly with the DMK and the MDMK, refers to the issue concerning the use of trawlers.
Tracing the history of the row over the islet, he deals with a host of events, including those in Tamil Nadu, which led to the signing of the 1974 bilateral treaty on the international maritime boundary line, under which Katchatheevu became a part of Sri Lanka.
His work, originally published in 2008, comprises the text of the treaties of 1974 and 1976, proceedings in the Lok Sabha in July 1974, and a resolution adopted by the Tamil Nadu Assembly in October 1991 on Katchatheevu.
Details regarding the 1921 agreement between the governments of the then Madras and Ceylon on the delimitation of the Gulf of Mannar and Palk Strait, and the lease deed of 1880 and 1885 also form part of the book.
