Jayalalithaa Vows To Retrieve Kachchateevu From Sri Lanka

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalitha assured the state assembly on Monday that her government would retrieve the Katchatheevu Island, which was given to Sri Lanka by India in 1974.

The AIADMK supremo said her government had been unable to take back Katchatheevu even after 25 years of efforts because of the opposition DMK, International Business Times, India,  said.

Jayalalithaa was responding to Leader of Opposition MK Stalin when she made the statement. “By passing a resolution in the assembly, the then DMK government headed by (Stalin’s father) M Karunanidhi closed the discussion on the transfer,” Indo-Asian News Service quoted Jayalalithaa as saying.

“Immediately after the all party meeting in 1974, mediapersons brought to the notice of then chief minister Karunanidhi the decision of Jan Sangh leader AB Vajpayee to approach the Supreme Court against conceding Katchatheevu. But Karunanidhi refused to make any comments,” the Hindu quoted the chief minister.

“At least the DMK government in 2008 could have impleaded itself in the petition filed by me in the Supreme Court,” she said.

The Katchatheevu island was ceded to Sri Lanka after an agreement in 1974, which allowed Indian fishermen to fish in the waters of the island. However, another agreement was signed in 1976 by the then Congress government, and it imposed restrictions on the fishermen wanting to fish there, the Mint reported.

Jayalalithaa had approached the Supreme Court challenging both agreements in 2008.

Courtesy – IB Times, India