COLOMBO, September 2: Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has declared that his government will not “yield to external pressure” over Katchatheevu Island, pledging to safeguard the country’s sovereignty, Sri Lanka Mirror reported.
Dissanayake made the remarks during an unannounced visit to Katchatheevu, a tiny but politically sensitive island in the Palk Strait, which India formally ceded to Sri Lanka under agreements signed in 1974 and 1976.
The president said that while earlier governments operated under the shadow of war, his administration’s focus is to ensure peace and prevent conflict from ever recurring.
The comments come against the backdrop of renewed pressure from Tamil Nadu, where Chief Minister M.K. Stalin has repeatedly urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to secure the retrieval of Katchatheevu. Stalin has argued that the handover has left Indian fishermen vulnerable to repeated arrests by Sri Lankan authorities.
In July, Stalin said his government was “constantly urging” New Delhi to act, noting that the Tamil Nadu Assembly had already passed a resolution demanding the retrieval of the island. He also accused the Union government of politicising the issue without offering real relief to fishermen.
Katchatheevu, measuring barely 285 acres, was transferred to Sri Lanka through the 1974 Boundary Agreement signed by Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Sirimavo Bandaranaike. The pact demarcated the maritime boundary from the Palk Strait to Adam’s Bridge and was followed by a 1976 accord that formally confirmed Sri Lanka’s sovereignty over the island.