The paperwork, obtained by TN BJP chief Okay Annamalai by means of an RTI utility, carry out Sri Lanka making up for its lack of dimension with tenacious pursuit of the 1.9 sq. km of land about 20km from Indian shore primarily based on claims which New Delhi contested for many years solely to acquiesce to lastly. Sri Lanka, then Ceylon, pressed its declare proper after Independence, when it stated Indian Navy (then Royal Indian Navy) couldn’t conduct workouts on the island with out its permission. In Oct 1955, Ceylon Air Force held its train on the island.
Its stance was mirrored in a minute by first PM Jawaharlal Nehru on May 10, 1961, who dismissed the problem as inconsequential.
I might’ve no hesitation in giving up claims to the island, Nehru wrote
I connect no significance in any respect to this little island and I might haven’t any hesitation in giving up our claims to it. I don’t like this pending indefinitely and being raised once more in Parliament, Nehru wrote.
Nehru’s minute is a part of a observe ready by then commonwealth secretary Y D Gundevia, and which the ministry of exterior affairs (MEA) shared as a backgrounder with the casual Consultative Committee of Parliament in 1968.
The backgrounder is revealing when it comes to the indecision that marked India’s response till 1974, when it formally gave up its declare altogether. “The legal aspects of the question are highly complex. The question has been considered in some detail in this ministry. No clear conclusions can be drawn as to the strength of either India’s or Ceylon’s claim to sovereignty,” the ministry stated.
This, regardless of the opinion of the then lawyer normal M C Setalvad, in 1960, that India had a stronger declare on the island shaped by a volcanic eruption. “The matter is by no means clear or free from difficulty but on the assessment of the whole evidence it appears to me that the balance lies in concluding that the sovereignty of India was and is in India,” wrote the well-regarded regulation officer in a transparent reference to the zamindari rights given by the East India Company to Raja of Ramnad (Ramnathpuram) over the islet and fishery and different assets round it.
The rights loved “continuously and uninterruptedly” from 1875 to 1948, which obtained vested within the State of Madras after the abolition of zamindari rights, have been exercised by the Raja independently, with out having to pay tributes or taxes to Colombo.
The paperwork present that MEA’s personal joint secretary (regulation and treaties) Okay Krishna Rao was undecided, however concluded that India had a superb authorized case which could possibly be leveraged for securing fishing rights – the trigger for the persevering with ordeal of a whole bunch of Indian fishermen who’re detained by Sri Lankan Navy, across the island.
While observing that Colombo’s claims are extra “substantial”, in 1960, Rao wrote: “On the other hand, it may be noted that India has a good legal case, which could be argued with considerable force. I am not suggesting that we have no case at all.”
Even Gundevia, who didn’t take into account the uninhabited island, with solely a church on it, to be “really important”, was in opposition to taking the chance of getting to give it up, the MEA informed the consultative committee in 1968.
The identical 12 months additionally noticed the opposition taking the Indira Gandhi govt to process for its obvious unwillingness to confront Sri Lanka because it doubled down on its declare over the island.
In a dialogue in Parliament, they demanded and obtained a dialogue in opposition to the backdrop of rising suspicion a couple of deal being secretly negotiated between Indira Gandhi and her Ceylonese counterpart Dudley Senanayke throughout the latter’s 1968 go to for handing over the island. Opposition members chided govt for not standing up to the indicators – statements of Ceylonense PM Senanayake of their Parliament and of native functionaries, Katchatheevu being proven as their territory in maps – as creeping acquisition of the island.
The Indian govt denied that the island has been signed away however emphasised that it was a disputed website and that India’s declare had to be balanced with the necessity for good bilateral ties. The response by Surendra Pal Singh, deputy minister within the MEA, that the island was uninhabited appeared to remind socialist veterans similar to Madhu Limaye and Rabi Ray of Nehru’s “not a blade of grass grows” comment after China’s annexation of Aksai Chin, who flew right into a rage.
Opposition raised the matter forcefully once more in 1969, however the two sides continued to inch in direction of an settlement which might concede Sri Lanka’s declare.
A 12 months after overseas secretary-level talks in Colombo in 1973, the choice to relinquish India’s declare was conveyed to Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi in June 1974 by overseas secretary Kewal Singh. The assembly noticed Singh mentioning the zamindari rights of Raja of Ramnad as additionally the failure of Sri Lanka to produce any documentary proof to show Lankan holding the title to Katchatheevu.
However, the overseas secretary emphasised that Sri Lanka had taken a “very determined position” on the idea of “records” displaying the island to be a part of the dominion of Jaffnapatnam, Dutch and British maps, the acceptance of an Indian survey group of its declare and the failure of the State of Madras to present that Raja of Ramnad had the unique title.
He stated that Ceylon had asserted its sovereignty since 1925 with out protests from India and cited a second opinion of 1970, by the then lawyer normal that “on balance, the sovereignty over Katchatheevu was and is with Ceylon and not with India”.
Singh sought quick concurrence from Karunanidhi, citing inside compulsions – India discovering traces of oil that Sri Lanka was then unaware of, and exterior ones just like the rising presence of pro-China foyer in Colombo and govt’s reluctance to transfer the World Court, arguing that it tends to favour smaller nations. The overseas secretary didn’t have to press arduous.
Part 2: DMK’s stand