Dissanayake visits Katchatheevu, pledges to safeguard Sri Lankan territory

COLOMBO

Sri Lanka’s President Anura Kumara Dissanayake — who was on Monday (September 1, 2025) in the northern Jaffna district to launch development projects — made a quick, unannounced visit to Katchatheevu, after vowing to safeguard “seas and islands” around the country and resist any “external pressure”.  

Jaffna media was caught by surprise as the President’s trip to the island, by a naval speed boat according to local news reports, was not mentioned in his official itinerary.  

The visit followed a ceremony to begin the expansion of the Myliddy Fisheries Harbour in Jaffna, a project aimed at boosting livelihoods of war-affected fishermen. Speaking at the event, Mr. Dissanayake said: “The government is committed to safeguarding the surrounding seas, islands, and landmass of the country for the benefit of the people and will not allow any external force to exert influence in this regard.”

The apparent reference to Katchatheevu drew immediate attention in local Tamil media, in the wake of actor Vijay’s recent remarks at a political rally in Madurai that Katchatheevu must be retrieved. Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath previously responded to the actor’s remarks saying: “Katchatheevu belongs to Sri Lanka…it is Sri Lankan territory, and that will never change.”

Speaking at a political rally in Madurai, Mr. Vijay flagged Katchatheevu — an uninhabited island located 14.5 km south of Delft Island off Jaffna Peninsula, and some 16 km northeast of Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu — as a solution to the periodic arrests faced Tamil Nadu fishermen, on charges of fishing illegally in Sri Lankan territorial waters.

Also read: India, T.N. must help protect livelihoods of northern Sri Lankan fishermen

The conflict, which affects Tamil-speaking, poor fishermen on both sides of the Palk Strait, persists chiefly because of Tamil Nadu boat owners’ reluctance to stop fishing using bottom trawlers, widely considered destructive. For well over a decade now, northern Sri Lankan fishermen, struggling to overcome the impact of a devastating war, have been urging their Indian counterparts to refrain from the practice that has severely depleted their catch.

In April this year, Sri Lanka’s Tamil parties told Prime Minister Narendra Modi that India must ban bottom trawling in order to resolve the fisheries conflict.

Also read | The Hindu Explains: Why are Katchatheevu pacts being questioned? |

The once-disputed island of Katchatheevu is a matter settled half a century ago, after the Governments of India and Sri Lanka, under Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Sirimavo Bandaranaike, signed two bilateral agreements in 1974 and 1976. All the same, Indian political leaders across parties invoke it periodically, even though Tamil Nadu fishermen are mostly arrested well past Katchatheevu, close to Sri Lanka’s northern coastline. Last year, PM Modi’s post on ‘X’ accusing the Congress of “callously giving away” the island to Sri Lanka, sparked a controversy. Elaborating on the comment, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar then said the two agreements compromised Indian fishermen’s rights in the Palk Strait. Speaking at a government event in Chennai in May this year, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin said retrieving Katchatheevu was “the only permanent solution” to Tamil Nadu fishermen’s woes.