Chennai: Voicing concern over attacks on Indian fishermen, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa today asked the Centre to take urgent steps for retrieval of Katchatheevu islet, ceded to Sri Lanka in 1974, besides redrawing the International Maritime Boundary Line. The 1974 Agreement signed between India and Sri Lanka had determined Katchatheevu as a part of Sri Lanka, and it was ceded by the Indian Government unilaterally without obtaining the approval of both Houses of Parliament for a constitutional amendment, she said in a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. "The stand of the Government of Tamil Nadu is that Katchatheevu has always been a part of India, geographically, culturally and historically and needs to be retrieved back, keeping in view the livelihood interests and security of thousands of Indian fishermen," she said. The chief minister recalled that as AIADMK general secretary she had filed a petition in the Supreme Court in 2008 seeking to declare the agreement null and void in the backdrop of continued attacks on fishermen from the state. The state revenue department had impleaded itself in the case in 2011 after her party came to power, Ms Jayalalithaa said. She also said the state assembly had unanimously passed a resolution on May 3 stating that in view of the legal invalidity of the 1974 and 1976 Agreements, the Centre should take steps to retrieve Katchatheevu and surrounding areas. "I, therefore, request you once again to kindly take urgent measures to get back Kachatheevu and the surrounding areas from Sri Lanka. Further, the IMBL needs to be redrawn after retrieval of Katchatheevu, which will enable our fishermen to carry on fishing in their traditional fishing waters without concerns of safety and security," she said. Ms Jayalalithaa also enclosed a copy of the May 3 resolution in her communication to Singh. The resolution had sought the retrieval of the islet on the basis of the 1960 Berubari case and considering the need to put an end to the "continuing threat to the livelihood" of state fishermen by Lankan navy and a need to bring a permanent solution to the issue. Fisherman are not there near the border to fight you they are there to catch some fish for their livelihood, why then you hunt and catch them like fish. The blood of innocent can bring wrath of mammoth proportions upon such government. Let us find out what is in the bible. Mathew 21 The Parable of the Tenants 33 “Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a wine press in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. 34 When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit. 35 “The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. 36 Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. 37 Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said. 38 “But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ 39 So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40 “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” 41 “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”
Posted on: Sat, 08 Jun 2013 06:52:34 +0000
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