In 1974, when Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister of India, she tried to resolve the maritime boundary dispute between India and Sri Lanka.
There were several talks between the two countries and during this an agreement was reached, which is known as ‘India-Sri Lanka Maritime Agreement’.
Indira Gandhi signed a total of 4 maritime agreements with the then President of Sri Lanka, Srimava Bandaranaike.
At that time Indira Gandhi had said that Kachchathivu island was a piece of stone. This is not important for us.
When Indira Gandhi’s government decided to hand over the Kachchathivu island to Sri Lanka, it did not take any advice from the Tamil Nadu government. There was a huge protest against this and fishermen came out on the streets.
Foreign Minister Jaishankar said that Indira handed over Kachchathivu island to Sri Lanka. The indifference of former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru regarding this was also clearly stated.
He said that today it is important for people to know why this matter has been kept hidden from people for so long.
We know who did this, but we don’t know who hid it. The Foreign Minister said that this is a decades old issue and I have responded to it 21 times.
He said that in 20 years, about 6 thousand 184 fishermen have been detained and 1 thousand 175 boats have been seized from Sri Lanka.
This island is at the southern end of the Indian Ocean. From India’s point of view it is between Rameshwaram and Sri Lanka.
Let us tell you that last year when the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka was coming to India, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding the return of Kachchathivu island.
The ancestors of Tamil Nadu along with Congress had handed over this island to Sri Lanka. However, the opposition is continuously raising the demand to bring back this island.
2024-04-01 11:52:32