AHITHERTO unknown island called Katchatheevu, located between India and Sri Lanka coastline, has become an issue of controversy recently. Katchatheevu means barren island in Tamil and it proves Tamil origin of the island. This uninhabited island measures just 1.15 sq km or 285 acres and is located in the Palk Strait between India and Sri Lanka. In the sea waters or maritime domain, India has rightful claim of 12 nautical miles (equal to 22 km) of territorial maritime zone. It means that India exercises sovereignty over 22 km of sea from the coastal boundary, be it fishing, oil exploration or air space over it. The concept of maritime boundary is similar to land border between the nations but islands located in between sometimes are claimed by two neighbouring nations. The case of Katchatheevu island is similar. Historically, the island belonged to various Tamil dynasties and came under the control of British Ceylon in 1921, Ceylon being the earlier name of Sri Lanka. Post Independence, the island remained in the background with Sri Lanka claiming stake on it based on a Catholic church located in this uninhabited island where devotees go twice a year.

 

Both Indian and Sri Lankan fishermen continued to fish around this island with minor friction in between. Cut to the year 1974. Indian Armed Forces had achieved spectacular victory over Pakistan in December 1971 war, leading to the birth of a new nation called Bangladesh. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had emerged as a powerful leader in Asia and amounts Non-Aligned Nations. By the year 1974, Opposition to the Congress rule had acquired good momentum. But it is safe to assume that militarily, Sri Lanka posed no threat to India. Therefore surprisingly, the tiny island was given away to Sri Lanka in 1974 as part of maritime boundary agreement but with the provision for Indian fishermen to access it. Not a great thing to agree as such an arrangement would lead to friction between the fishermen of the two countries. No wonder that 1976 agreement between Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and her Sri Lankan counterpart Sirimavo Bandaranaike more or less ceded the island to Sri Lanka. It may be noted that India was under Emergency during this period and most of the Opposition political members were imprisoned. Therefore, it is safe to assume that the agreement was not based on consultative process with the Opposition. While some former diplomats who were involved in framing the agreement have given their views, I do not find views of any maritime expert including senior Naval veterans about the chain of events then. I have a feeling that the security perspective may been given a miss.

 

It is understandable that China was not a big economic and military power then but the importance of Indian Ocean Region is well known from the security perspective. But there is some merit in ignoring our long-term security interest in the region. Fishing in the high seas is critical for the livelihood of fishermen and since the coastal boundary is not demarcated as done for the land boundary, Indian fishermen in the past have entered into the sea waters apparently controlled by Sri Lanka. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar quoted that in the last 20 years, 6184 Indian fishermen have been detained by Sri Lanka and their 1175 fishing vessels seized. But we also know that these detained fishermen are released after diplomatic negotiations but it does cause misery to the fishing community. With the ascent of China as a maritime power with particular interest in the Indian Ocean Region, such actions of the past, even when done in good faith, severely impact the security concerns of India. China’s strategic “String of Pearls” initiative which involves creation of network in the Indian Ocean Region aimed at encirclement of India. Sri Lanka and Maldives are key to Chinese strategy and China has made deep inroads in creating a network of military and commercial establishments and projects in these countries. It is here that even tiny islands become important from the strategic and security perspective.

 

China has even constructed artificial islands in the South China Sea where it has maximum maritime dispute with other nations like Vietnam and Philippines. Therefore, any maritime conflict would see utilisation of small islands in the Naval warfare. A parallel can be drawn from our Andaman & Nicobar Island where again a large number of small islands are going to be operationally critical. This brings me to the larger security strategic community in our country. Today we have large number of think tanks and strategic experts and these do provide valuable inputs to the decision makers. The problem is in the political/executive domain where only a handful of politicians including MPs have in-depth strategic knowledge. In developed nations, a large number of politicians specialise in matters military and in fact grill senior military officers in live public debate. As an aspirational developed nation by the year 2047, India has to develop serious strategic culture with a healthy mix of competent military officers, diplomats, politicians and effective think tanks. As India is bound by some past agreements, all the agencies involved in the security domain should work out necessary safeguards in the national interest. And where essential and critical in the national interest, we should be prepared to re-negotiate.