As Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalitha accuses Sri Lanka of “warlike” mass kidnapping of Indian fishermen, it seems the Centre and the state government are themselves locked in oneupmanship over the issue which can imperil relations with the important neighbouring country.
TOI has learnt that despite repeated exhortations from PM Manmohan Singh in a series of letters to the chief minister, the Centre and the state government have not been able to fix a meeting between fishermen’s associations — across the Palk Straits — which is imperative for any solution. Jayalalitha has accused the Centre of coming up with a “meek and pusillanimous” response which, she says, has emboldened the Lankans.
“A potentially useful first step would be the meeting of fishermen’s associations from both sides of the Palk Straits, which we have been suggesting for some time,” Singh wrote to Jayalalitha last month. The PM then went on to thank her for her support to such a meeting in December but that did not translate into any action by the state government. In the letter, the PM said “it is only through continuous engagement with Sri Lankan authorities that we will be able to find and implement a sustainable solution” to the issue.
It is important that Singh mentioned he had been suggesting this for “some time” as the Centre is not too pleased with the chief minister for having appropriated what was Singh’s proposal for a fishermen’s associations’ meeting. In September, after Jayalalitha wrote to the PM, she is said to have given the impression that she, in fact, had come up with this proposal.
Sources pointed to a series of letters written by Singh to the CM earlier, one on June 6 in which Singh wrote that this meeting “could also serve as a basis for finding a solution to this issue involving the socio-economic well-being and livelihood security of fishermen living in the coastal areas of the two countries.” The PM also made it clear in this letter that India considered its maritime boundary with Sri Lanka settled under agreements signed in 1974 and 1976.
On September 11, Singh again wrote to the CM requesting for her help in arranging the meeting which he said could lead to a solution. “We urge the state government to extend every support to the government of India in its efforts to arrive at a viable solution to this issue,” said Singh.
Jayalalitha asked the PM to take up the matter with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa after the “mass abduction” of 140 India fishermen last week. For the Centre, though, for any forward movement on the issue, including a meeting of the Joint Working Group, it is necessary that the fishermen’s associations meet. The Centre believes it is helpless in the absence of support from Tamil Nadu.
When Jayalalitha finally wrote to Singh on September 20 expressing support, Singh wrote back to her four days later saying he was glad that Tamil Nadu had agreed to allow fishermen’s associations from both sides to meet. In fact, the first time Singh suggested to Jayalalitha that this meeting could lead to a solution was as early as July 5, 2012 when he wrote to her days after NSA Shivshankar Menon’s visit to the island nation. - TOI
