“Not unusual during election time,” a politician from Sri Lanka asserts about India’s Katchatheevu

NEW DELHI: The Sri Lankan minister of fisheries, Douglas Devananda, said that there is “no ground” for India’s claims to be “reclaiming” Katchatheevu island from Sri Lanka.
The prime minister of India, Narendra Modi, recently accused the Congress party and its allies, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in Tamil Nadu, of neglecting national interests when they transferred the island of Katchatheevu to Sri Lanka in 1974. This led to the top politician from Sri Lanka making these statements.

The two parties have also come under fire from the BJP for allegedly neglecting to protect the rights of fishermen who want to operate in the seas around Katchatheevu island.
Devananda told reporters at a news conference in Jaffna on Thursday, “It is election time in India; it is not unusual to hear such noises of claims and counterclaims about Katchatheevu.”
“I think India is acting on its interests to secure this place to ensure Sri Lankan fishermen would not have any access to that area and that Sri Lanka should not claim any rights in that resourceful area,” Devananda went on to say.
Devananda restated the fallaciousness of claims to be “reclaiming” Katchatheevu from Sri Lanka. He claimed that both countries’ fishermen were allowed to fish in each other’s territorial seas under the terms of the 1974 agreement. But further evaluations, most notably in 1976, led to bans on fishing in nearby seas for both sides.
“There are claims to a place called West Bank, which is situated beneath Kanyakumari. India secured it at the 1976 review agreement, and it is a much larger area with extensive sea resources, 80 times bigger than Katchatheevu.” Devananda emphasised.
In recent months, local fishermen have put increasing pressure on Devananda, the minister of fisheries. Local fishermen claim Indian bottom trawling techniques hurt their interests, and protests have arisen over suspected illegal fishing operations by Indian rivals inside Sri Lankan seas.
According to reports, the Sri Lanka Navy has detained 23 trawlers and 178 Indian fishermen since the year’s commencement. In 1994, a Chennai court pronounced Devananda, a former Tamil militant and leader of the Eelam People’s Democratic Party, a proclaimed criminal.
Jaishankar had before said that the Congress and DMK were being indifferent to the Katchatheevu problem and had sharply criticised them for this. He emphasised the need for openness, saying that everyone should be aware of the facts underlying Katchatheevu’s move.