Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa has urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take efforts to redraw the international maritime boundary line (IMBL) with Sri Lanka,and retrieve Katchatheevu islet from the neighbouring country. This has come even as the Centre is reportedly considering imposing penalties on Tamil Nadu fishermen who cross the boundaries to fish in Lankan waters causing skirmishes between fishermen of the two countries. In the backdrop of continuing attacks on fishermen from the state by the Lankan navy,India should take urgent measures to retrieve Katchatheevu,a small,uninhabited islet lying between the two countries which India ceded to Lanka in 1974. Further,the IMBL needs to be redrawn after the retrieval of Katchatheevu,which will enable our fishermen to carry on fishing in their traditional fishing waters without concerns of security, Jayalalithaa said in her latest letter to the Prime Minister. The assembly had passed a unanimous resolution on May 3 during the budget session seeking these demands. As the general secretary of AIADMK,Jayalalithaa had filed a writ petition before the Supreme Court in 2008 challenging the validity of the 1974 and 1976 agreements between the two countries,alleging that the decision to cede the islet to Lanka was taken by the then PM Indira Gandhi without the approval of both Houses of Parliament for a constitutional amendment. Soon after she took charge as the Chief Minister,the assembly had moved a resolution to implead the state revenue department in this case. The case is pending before the apex court. The demand for retrieving Katchatheevu and redrawing IMBL accordingly has been raised by various political parties for several years now.
