Jayalalithaa fires salvo on Katchchathivu
Warns of court action if indian Government does not take back island
Tamil Nadu Opposition AIADMK leader Jayalalithaa Jeyaram yesterday threatened to challenge in the Indian Supreme Court the validity of the 1974 Indo-Sri Lanka pact handing over Katchchathivu Island to Sri Lanka if the UPA government failed to take action over the secession.
Quoting an Apex Court judgement in the Berubary union case on exchange of enclaves in Kutch with Pakistan, Ms. Jayalalithaa said according to the court ruling the ceding of Indian Territory to another country resulted in the “diminution of the territory of the union” and therefore should be endorsed by parliament through a constitutional amendment.
"Since no such step was taken by the Indira Gandhi government or any subsequent governments, the Dr Manmohan Singh government should seriously consider moving the Supreme Court to test the validity of conceding Katchchathiu to Sri Lanka. If the Prime Minister is not willing to do this, I will move the Supreme Court for a direction to the government of India to do
so or pray that the Apex Court set aside the ceding of Kachchathivu to Sri Lanka by the Indira Gandhi Government', she said.
Ms. Jayalalithaa said her party had always held that the ceding of Katchchathivu, an uninhabited island, was a monumental blunder and had insisted that the attacks on Indian fishermen would cease only if the country got the islet back.
"But the Central Government has repeatedly turned a deaf ear to our many protests. It appears to care less about the problems of Tamil Nadu and the Tamil people," she lamented.
Meanwhile about 80 fishermen from Tamil Nadu were allegedly assaulted by Sri Lankan Navy personnel in the Palk Strait, near Katchchathivu island, early last morning, the Indian media reported, quoting officials in Rameshwaram.
However Sri Lanka Navy spokesman, Commander D.K.P. Dassanayake, denied allegations of Navy involvement in the incident, adding that they had not received reports of any such incident up to last evening.
“We did not receive any reports of incidents involving Indian fishermen within Sri Lankan territorial waters today. We don’t know if such an incident occurred outside Sri Lankan waters. If so, it could have been the work of the LTTE to tarnish the image of Sri Lanka during the SAARC Summit. The LTTE has done things like this before as well,” Commander Dassanayake said.
According to the Indian media, the incident occurred in the midst of protests staged by political parties in the Indian state – which have been going on for the past few weeks -- demanding that the Centre take up the issue of recurring incidents with the island nation and provide adequate security to Indian fishermen.
Quoting the fishermen, the officials said about 80 of them, sailing in 20 boats, were assaulted with clubs while they were fishing around Katchchathivu island, which was ceded to Sri Lanka by India in 1974.
Many fishermen had to abandon their boats and jump into the sea to escape the assault. They remained in the water for more than one hour, then got back into their boats and returned to shore.
The ruling DMK and many other political parties, including AIADMK, CPI and MDMK have held protests over similar incidents in the past.
at the Preside
ntial Secretariat in Colombo.
at the Preside
ntial Secretariat in Colombo.
