Sri Lankan president says India recognized Katchatheevu — The Hindu

Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said that India’s central government had acknowledged before the country’s Supreme Court that Katchatheevu Island belongs to Sri Lanka. He said this on October 11 during a rally in Sri Lanka’s North Western Province, The Hindu reports.

Hearing at India’s Supreme Court

Dissanayake’s statement came after hearings at India’s Supreme Court regarding petitions whose authors challenge the transfer of Katchatheevu to Sri Lanka in the 1970s. According to the publication, India’s Attorney General R. Venkataramani told the court that New Delhi has “excellent relations” with Sri Lanka and does not intend to review the 1974 and 1976 agreements concerning the island.

The next hearing in the case is scheduled for February 2027. Justice Sanjay Kumar, who heard the case together with Justice Sanjiv Sachdeva, noted that India’s central authorities and the Tamil Nadu state government should explain to fishermen the need not to enter Sri Lankan waters.

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Fishing issue

The issue of Katchatheevu is often raised by Indian politicians amid the detention of fishermen from Tamil Nadu by the Sri Lankan Navy for illegal fishing in the country’s territorial waters. The article notes that fishermen from Tamil Nadu’s coastal areas cross the international maritime boundary and head to the resource-rich waters off Sri Lanka’s northern coast, using the destructive method of bottom trawling.

Dissanayake also reiterated his assurance to India that Sri Lanka would not allow its airspace, land or sea to be used in a manner that would pose a threat to India. Last year, the president visited Katchatheevu and stated the government’s intention to protect the country’s adjacent seas, islands and territory.