Shamsuddin Ahmed :
The dispute over increasing encroachment of Sri Lankan water territory by Indian fishermen is turning into political confrontation between the two countries. The danger is that it could spiral into a major crisis. Indian northern state Tamil Nadu has been asking the central government in Delhi to ascertain the right to fish around the Katcatheevu Island, if needed by military action. Katcatheevu Island had been part of India but ceded to Sri Lanka decades ago by Jawaharlal Nehru.
It was obvious that the Indian attitude emboldened Sri Lankan stand. Colombo followed the maxim about India: India gets too arrogant when others are soft, and gets too stubbornly repulsive when others denigrate them. More than 600 Indian fishermen were held last year for encroachment of water territory. Of them, 263 with 85 vessels are now in Sri Lankan custody. The Fisheries Ministry said they have satellite images that evidence of hundreds of Indian trawlers and mechanized boats everyday across the international marine boundary line to fish close to the Sri Lankan coast. Because of increasing incidents of encroachment, the Marine Department has secured permission of Defense Ministry to arrest Indian fishermen and put them on trial in accordance with the law. The tough action brought Delhi to its knees. Tamil Nadu government has, of late, proposed for amicable solution of the fishing dispute through discussion.
Sri Lankan Navy has in the past handed over Indian fishermen to Indian Coastguards, subsequent to arrest and detention. Now with an increase in the number of trawlers entering Sri Lankan waters illegally, and the scale of destruction effected, local authorities have begun to arrest Indian fishermen and charge them, as per the law, for encroaching on Sri Lankan territorial waters.
According to conservative official estimate, encroachment by the Indian fishermen caused losses of US$ 59.18 million annually and depletion of marine resources of Sri Lanka. About 50 percent seafood processing facilities and registered export processing facilities in India are located in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, which depends largely on fish from Sri Lankan waters.
Fishermen from Sri Lanka and neighbouring India, who both share the Indian Ocean, have a history of fishing illegally from each other’s territorial waters. During the war with LTTE these northern waters were out of bound to fisherman from both countries. Now that the war is over these waters are open to fishing, and the abundance of aquatic resources are attracting fisherman from both countries. Fishermen from Tamil Nadu and Kerala of India and fisherman from the north of Sri Lanka prefer to fish in the area near the Katchatheevu Island, where the presence of deep waters and rocky formation created an ideal environment for marine biology.
Sri Lankan fishermen accuse Indian fishing trawlers damage their fishing nets and destroy a fragile eco-system by utilizing bottom trawling, which rips the entire sea bed. For a community in the process of recovering from restrictions imposed on them during three decades of war, the actions of Indian fishermen are seen as an impediment to their economic revival. Marine officials claim damage to fish habitat and eco-system, both short-term and long-term, is incalculable.
Nepal also accused of encroachment of land by India. Media reports said India has occupied 75,000 hectares at 54 different locations along the 1808 km long border. Thousands of Indians trespassed into Nepal and acquired citizenship of Nepal through unfair means during the rule of pro-Indian government.
And India accuses China of encroachment of its territory. Defence Minister AK Anthony has claimed that 38,000 sq miles of Aksai Chin in the northwest is under Chinese occupation since 1962. Besides, China claims about 90,000 sq kilometer Indian territory in Arunachal Pradesh. Beijing refuted the claim as fatuous. Indo-China border dispute led to the 1962 war when India was badly bruised. Still the border dispute occasionally flares up with Delhi accusing Beijing of encroachment, but India did never dare to retaliate.
About the talks on border dispute, it is worth recalling observation of Ye Zhengjia. A senior fellow at the China Institute of International Studies more than a decade ago wrote:
It will be wishful thinking if one expects to win over India by making unprincipled concessions to its unreasonable demands, whether they are in relation to bilateral issues or concerning our relations with the subcontinent. If we falter, they can be insatiable. The result may just be the opposite. He quoted a Chinese saying, “tolerate evil is to abet it.”
