Chennai, Apr 3 (UNI) Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Thursday

urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take immediate steps to review

the Indo-Sri Lankan Agreement at the earliest to retrieve the Katchatheevu

Island and the traditional fishing rights of TN fishermen are permanently

protected.

In a Demi-official letter to Mr Modi, copies of which were released to the

media here, Mr Stalin also urged the Prime Minister, who is visiting Colombo,

to hold talks with the Sri Lankan Government to secure the release of all the

imprisoned fishermen released along with their boats on a goodwill basis.

Recalling the resolution passed by the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly on

April 2, regarding the retrieval of Katchatheevu island, to protect the traditional

fishing rights of the Indian fishermen in the Palk Bay area, Mr Stalin pointed out

that the origin of the problem is the Indo-Sri Lankan Treaty (Katchatheevu

Agreement) made between the two countries in the year 1974.

Reiterating that the Tamil Nadu Government has been steadfast in opposing the

Katchatheevu agreement right from the beginning, the Chief Minister said the

Members of Parliament from Tamil Nadu had strongly opposed the ceding of

Katchatheevu to Sri Lanka in Parliament in 1974.

After the signing of the Katchatheevu Agreement by the Union Government on

June 28, 1974 without the consent of the State Government, the then Chief

Minister M.Karunanidhi immediately convened an all-party meeting at the

Secretariat on the very next day on June 29, 1974 and passed a resolution

condemning it and wrote a letter to the then Prime Minister on the same day,

he recalled.

He also recalled the resolutions passed in the Tamil Nadu Assembly on

August 21, 1974, strongly opposing the decision of Union Government

on the issue of Katchatheevu.

Mr Stalin also cited the resolution passed in the House on October 3, 1991,

May 3, 2013 and December 5, 2014 reiterating the consistent demand of

retrieving the Katchatheevu Island to protect the traditional fishing rights of

our fishermen .

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