Katchatheevu island | Sirima’s call to Indira Gandhi saved negotiations from getting derailed, according to 2003 Sri Lankan book

Sri Lanka’s former Foreign Secretary Jayasinghe, in 2003 book, offers insight into the negotiations

The issue has acquired prominence in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls with Prime Minister Narendra Modi blaming the Congress on March 31 for the “ceding” of the Katchatheevu islet to Sri Lanka. File. | Photo Credit: L. BALACHANDAR

A telephone call from Sri Lanka’s then Prime Minister Sirima R.D. Bandaranaike to her Indian counterpart Indira Gandhi in January 1974 may perhaps be considered to have saved the bilateral negotiations on the contentious Katchatheevu islet issue from getting derailed.

The issue has acquired prominence in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls with Prime Minister Narendra Modi blaming the Congress on March 31 for the “ceding” of the islet to Sri Lanka. 

Recounting how the negotiations went over the years, W.T. Jayasinghe, who was the Foreign Secretary of Sri Lanka during 1972-89, in his book “Kachchativu: And the Maritime Boundary of Sri Lanka” (published by Stamford Lake, Sri Lanka, 2003), mentioned that when Bandaranaike arrived in New Delhi on January 22 for “summit and official” level discussions, Sri Lanka’s sovereignty over Katchatheevu was “no longer an issue.” The neighbour’s case had been “established through discussion, documentation and correspondence.” What was required to be thrashed out was the apportioning of the historic waters in the Palk Strait and Palk Bay, especially the extent of territorial sea on the west of the islet. 

The visiting Prime Minister was in India till January 30. She was one of the guests of honour at the Republic Day celebrations on January 26 along with the now-disintegrated Yugoslavia’s President Josip Tito. Though Bandaranaike and Indira Gandhi had several meetings, exchanging views on several international developments, their one-to-one talks “however, centred round” Katchatheevu and the status of 1.5 lakh persons of Indian origin who had remained stateless. 

Watch | Katchatheevu | Impact of foreign policy issues during election season

Stateless people

As regards the stateless people, an understanding was reached between the two leaders to absorb them in equal numbers and letters were exchanged between them on January 27. 

But, Katchatheevu did not prove to be that swift matter. The 1921 fishery line, which was drawn up when the British ruled both India and Sri Lanka, had provided for, in the words of India’s then External Affairs Minister Swaran Singh, “about three or three and a half miles” west of Katchatheevu. It was in 1921 that the issue of ownership over the islet had also cropped up.  

Pointing out that Sri Lanka was “prepared to go back from her version of the median line (7 nautical miles from Katchatheevu to 3.5 nautical miles) as a quid pro quo” to India to withdraw its claim over the islet, Jayasinghe wrote that his Indian counterpart, Kewal Singh, suggested a belt of sea in the form of a semicircle with a radius of half a [nautical] mile as the maritime boundary. This was rejected by the other side as it “would have amounted to no more than a token recognition of Sri Lanka’s sovereignty” over the islet. 

It was at this stage that Bandaranaike wrote a letter to Indira Gandhi on January 24, offering the withdrawal of one and a half nautical miles from her country’s position. “There was no immediate response” from her counterpart. Jayasinghe had suggested to his Prime Minister to seek a one-to-one discussion with Indira Gandhi, as, he observed, “the entire negotiations were now in jeopardy over this issue.”

‘Informal meeting’

The visiting Prime Minister made a phone call to Indira Gandhi, who, in turn, invited her to her residence. Jayasinghe, who accompanied Bandaranaike, stated that the Indian Prime Minister, who was relaxing after lunch, saw them in the rear verandah of the residence. “It was a most informal meeting,” he recalled.

Broaching the subject again, Bandaranaike told her counterpart that a territorial sea of half a mile would “gravely impede” efficient utilisation of the islet and suggested a minimum of two nautical miles. The response of Indira Gandhi was that it would be “difficult to carry such a package” with the Tamil Nadu government, the Sri Lankan diplomat recorded in his book.

Eventually, the two leaders agreed on drawing the boundary one nautical mile west of Katchatheevu. However, the formal signing of the agreement by them took place five months later.