Prominent former Indian diplomats have warned India about its reconsideration of the 1974 India-Sri Lanka agreement over the Kachchatheevu island dispute, saying that this could hamper ties between the two nations.
Speaking to The Hindu, former diplomats Shiv Shankar Menon, Nirupama Menon-Rao, and Ashok Kantha advised India to exercise caution in relation to the dispute as it gathers steam ahead of the upcoming general elections.
Diplomats’ Warnings
“The situation on the ground is hard to reverse, but such issues being raised by the country’s leadership will damage the credibility of the country and could be a self-goal by the government,” said Menon, the Former Indian Foreign Secretary and India’s High Commissioner to Sri Lanka from 1997-2000. He added that revisiting previously established agreements makes the country “less credible as a power and as a partner.”
Must read in The Hindu today: what three top former diplomats and envoys to Sri Lanka tell @suhasinih about #Katchatheevu being raised again:@ShivshankaMenon: such issues being raised by the country’s leadership will damage the credibility of the country and could be a…
— Ananth Krishnan (@ananthkrishnan) April 2, 2024
Menon-Rao, who served as the Foreign Secretary from 2009-2011 and was the Indian Envoy to Sri Lanka from 2004-2006, stated that Sri Lanka closely follows political trends in India and that an impact on bilateral ties “cannot be inconsequential.” She asserted that reopening the issue carries “reputational risk.”
“If PM Modi questions an agreement a previous government entered into, then what will stop a future government from questioning an agreement the present government is negotiating?” Menon asked. Kantha, who also served as the former High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, echoed this sentiment. He said that a change in government does not change the government’s position on issues of sovereignty and territorial integrity. “If the government were to reopen old agreements, it would set a bad example,” Kantha added.
Change in Stance
Menon-Rao highlighted that the Indian government had previously followed preceding governments’ stance on the issue. She noted that notwithstanding India’s recent change in tone, in 2022, the government told the court that retrieving Kachchatheevu was “impossible.”
This trend could also be seen in Ministry responses in the Parliament from 2014-2022, where it reiterated that the “island of Kachchatheevu lies on the Sri Lankan side of the India-Sri Lanka Maritime Boundary Line.” The government also said that the matter is sub-judice in the Supreme Court.
Debates notwithstanding the impact on a Sri Lanka that has seen demands from Tamil Nadu to the Centre that #Katchatheevu should be “retrieved” should not be underestimated. If the aim is to expose the way Ma Bharati has been divided it follows logically that sacred Indian… https://t.co/NasRN3oLhk
— Nirupama Menon Rao 🇮🇳 (@NMenonRao) April 1, 2024
The ex-diplomats pointed out that the 1974 agreement had resulted in an improvement of the India-Sri Lanka ties. They noted that a similar deal with Bangladesh was signed by the current government in 2015 to settle the land boundary enclaves issue.
The Kachchatheevu Island Issue
The 285-acre disputed Kachchatheevu island is located around 33 km from the Indian coast near Rameswaram. It caused conflict between India and Sri Lanka during the pre-independence era, but it was attached to the Madras Presidency by the British. The dispute resurfaced after independence, and under the Indo-Sri Lanka Maritime agreement, the uninhabited island was handed over to Sri Lanka under the Indira Gandhi government in 1974. However, as per the pact, Indian fishermen were allowed to fish around the island and permitted to visit the Catholic shrine located on it.
This changed in 1976, when a supplemental pact imposed restrictions on fishing activities and fishermen and obligated fishermen to seek permission for their activities. The island, which had little strategic value earlier, is now considered essential by India owing to China’s threat.
Ahead of the upcoming elections, Indian PM Narendra Modi attacked Congress, saying that the party had “callously” ceded the Kachchatheevu island to Sri Lanka in 1974. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar also echoed Modi’s comments on Monday, saying that the Indian people had the right to know how the island was given away.
While Sri Lanka has denied that India has raised the issue with the country, the Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai has stirred up controversy by saying that the centre is trying to bring back the island to protect fishermen.