The recent arrest of eight Tamil Nadu fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy has reignited anger in India, with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin writing to Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar once more.
The latest arrests come just days after Jaishankar attributed the recurring detentions of Indian fishermen by Sri Lankan authorities to an agreement signed during India’s Emergency period.
The fishermen, hailing from Rameswaram, were apprehended in the early hours of June 29 while fishing near Dhanushkodi and Talaimannar. They were reportedly taken to the Sri Lankan naval base in Talaimannar. The Tamil Nadu government confirmed that a mechanised trawler was also seized.
Stalin urged the Union Government to secure the immediate release of the fishermen and their vessel. “With the annual fishing ban now lifted, fishermen have only just resumed activity. This arrest is a severe blow to their livelihood,” Stalin said in his letter.
This incident comes against the backdrop of comments made by Jaishankar at a Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) event marking the 50th anniversary of India’s Emergency. The External Affairs Minister blamed the arrests on a 1970s maritime agreement that he claims was pushed through undemocratically.
“These days, there is a discussion about our fishermen going to Sri Lanka and getting arrested there. That is because of an agreement signed with Sri Lanka at the time of Emergency under which the rights of the fishermen to fish in some part of Sri Lankan waters were given up by us,” Jaishankar said.
The agreement, signed in 1974 and further expanded in 1976 under then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, ceded the uninhabited Katchatheevu island to Sri Lanka and restricted fishermen on both sides from entering each other’s exclusive economic zones.
Jaishankar, who accused the Congress of bypassing democratic norms during the Emergency, said such a deal would not have passed had Parliament been functioning properly. “Had a genuine Parliament functioned at the time, there would have been a debate and this decision would not be accepted,” he claimed.
His comments come amid remarks by the BJP on the Katchatheevu handover, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year accusing the Congress of “callously giving away” the island.
The decades-old agreement continues to create attacks by Sri Lankan naval forces on Tamil Nadu’s fishing community, who often find themselves accused of "poaching" in waters they once accessed.
The DMK government has repeatedly raised concerns over the safety and livelihood of Tamil fishermen, with Stalin renewing his call for India to reclaim Katchatheevu and re-examine the bilateral fishing pacts. Earlier this year, Stalin wrote to Modi demanding the return of the island and a reassertion of India’s traditional fishing rights.
In Tamil Nadu, activists and opposition leaders have questioned why, if the Emergency-era agreement is so problematic, successive Indian governments including the current BJP administration have not taken steps to renegotiate or annul it.
