India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said Friday that Sri Lankan authorities are arresting Indian fishermen because of an Emergency-era agreement that gave up fishing rights in some areas.

“At the time, several big decisions would be taken without a debate. These days, there is a discussion about our fishermen going to Sri Lanka and getting arrested there. That is because of an agreement signed with Sri Lanka at the time of Emergency under which the rights of the fishermen to fish in some part of Sri Lankan waters were given up by us,” he said at a BJP youth wing event to mark the 50th anniversary of the Emergency.

Tamil Nadu’s DMK government has repeatedly raised the issue with the Union government. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier this year, calling for the return of Katchatheevu island that was handed over to Sri Lanka through agreements signed in 1974 and 1976.

The decades-old dispute resurfaced last year after Modi posted on X that the Congress “callously gave away” Katchatheevu to Sri Lanka in the 1970s.

Government data shows Sri Lanka has arrested more than 528 Indian fishermen in 2024.

Jaishankar said: “If it wasn’t for an Emergency Parliament, if Parliament at the time was a genuine Parliament, there would have been a debate and I don’t know if the Parliament would have allowed such an agreement,” he said. “The decisions taken at the time still show their impact in the state of Tamil Nadu.” The state is expected to go to the polls next year.

The External Affairs Minister also took aim at the Congress party, stating that one family’s interests were placed above the nation during the Emergency.

“There’s a movie titled Kissa Kursi Ka… these three words aptly tell the reason behind the imposition of the Emergency. When a family is considered above the nation, things like Emergency take place,” Jaishankar said.

He stated that during that time he was a 20 year-old student at Jawaharlal Nehru University, and the biggest lesson from the Emergency was to never take one’s freedom for granted.

In a reference to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Jaishankar said: “Some people flash the Constitution in but the feeling in their hearts is different… Political parties also have a DNA and they have, to date, never expressed regret for imposing Emergency.”

Responding to the remarks, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X: “What I can tell the EAM is to please tell us what President Trump is saying. What is his trade deal? Why is President Trump repeatedly claiming credit for the ceasefire? EAM would be well advised to deal with the complete collapse of Indian diplomacy… He should be worried about repairing the damage to Indian diplomacy rather than getting into the history of what happened 50 years ago.”

Later, speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the event, Jaishankar hailed the global outreach after Operation Sindoor. “I have a great sense of pride when I see Parliamentary delegations led by Shashi Tharoor, Supriya Sule, Kanimozhi, Sanjay Jha, Jay Panda, Ravi Shankar Prasad, and Shrikant Shinde…. when I see unity among all parties going out in the world, speaking in the national interest,” he said.

He also spoke about India’s refusal to sign the SCO joint statement, saying the objective of the grouping that runs through consensus was to fight terrorism. “In the discussion on the outcome document of the Defence Ministers’ meeting, one country said ‘no we don’t want reference to that’,” he said. Pakistan is learnt to have raised objections at the SCO defence ministers’ meeting.

(Indian Express)

Sri Lanka government is yet to be officially informed over United Nation-flagged research vessel’s decision on not doing the planned research due to approval delay from the island nation’s government, Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath said.

Sources from the Foreign and Fisheries Ministries say the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has informed that the research vessel “Dr Fridtj of Nansen” will not come to Sri Lanka research purposes because Sri Lanka delayed the approval as it has delayed to formulate standard operating procedures (SOP) to handle foreign research vessels.

Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath, however, said the government is “not officially informed”.

UN sources say Sri Lanka’s research opportunity is now given to Madagascar.

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake gave special approval for the research vessel after repeated requests from the UN.

The approval for the UN’s research vessel was not given due to the government’s delay in formulating standard operating procedures (SOP) to handle foreign research vessels.

Sources aware of the research vessel ghave told the EconomyNext that the “Dr Fridtj of Nansen” (F. Nansen), a state-of-the-art vessel was expected to conduct research involved with fish stock and the health of marine ecosystems in the Sri Lankan water.

Sri Lanka had originally rejected the UN request for the research vessel, which was scheduled to conduct the research from July 15-August 20 on the request of the previous Sri Lankan government.

As per original plan, it was scheduled to sail to Dhaka from Colombo and Bangladesh scientists are expected to get into the vessel while it is in Colombo after it finishes research in Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka government has agreed to allow the vessel to use its facilities to take Bangladesh scientists onboard.

The government did not allow the UN research vessel “pending the development of standard operating procedures for foreign research vessels”, a UN document said.

The cancellation of the visit would incur direct losses of over $1 million to Sri Lanka through the FAO and likely to reduce the efficacy of upcoming programming financed by the Green Climate Fund which would heavily rely on the data generated by the F. Nansen,” the document said.

If the current visit is cancelled, another would not be feasible until after 2030.

Cancelling the UN research vessel’s visit would deprive the country of critical data essential to the government’s decision making, damaging the prospects for economic development in a key sector of the economy, the UN has said.

The UN said the vessel is equipped to support Sri Lanka in the sustainable management of marine ecosystems and aquatic resources, in line with the request expressed by the Sri Lankan government.

Sri Lanka imposed a one-year moratorium over foreign research vessels amid pressure by India and the United States over Chinese vessels coming for research purposes.

Both the US and India have pressed Sri Lanka after two Chinese research vessels came to the island nation within 14 months.

The moratorium ended on Dec. 31, 2024, but President Anura Kumara Dissanayake government’s cabinet in January decided to appoint a new committee to review the existing SOP and come up with a new SOP to facilitate foreign research ships.

The government appointed the committee to look into the SOP only in the previous week and the first meeting was held on June 19.

The FAO has coordinated the deployment of the “Dr Fridtj of Nansen” vessel to Sri Lanka following a November 2023 request from the previous Sri Lankan government.

Sri Lanka is facing diplomatic challenges in allowing foreign research vessels within its waters due to geopolitical issues related to India and China.

Sri Lanka and China have agreed to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on maritime cooperation amid Indian concerns over Chinese research ships visiting the Indian Ocean.

In April, Sri Lanka signed a Defence Cooperation MOU which said both neighbour countries will exchange information in maritime and other domains on mutual consent without elaborating.

Foreign Minister Herath in January said Sri Lanka does not have to take approval from India or inform the neighbour on visit of any foreign vessels. Government officials have said some previous governments have maintained such practices to maintain better relationships with India.

A recent investigation by the Ministry of Urban Development, Construction, and Housing has revealed that the Jaffna Presidential Palace was constructed on land illegally acquired from local residents, Lankadeepa reported.

The report states that eight individuals have come forward claiming legal ownership of the land on which the palace was built, creating complications for handing the property over to potential investors.

Commenting on the issue, Minister of Urban Development, Construction, and Housing, Anura Karunathilaka, said that all ownership disputes must be fully resolved before the property can be offered to any investor. He noted that steps are currently being taken to clear these legal obstacles.

Several parties, including an investor from Canada, have already expressed interest in acquiring the Jaffna President’s House for various investment purposes.

Constructed between 2010 and 2015, the President’s House is located on approximately 30 acres of land in Kankesanthurai. Buildings have been erected on about 15 of those acres. It is reported that about Rs 3.5 billion has been spent for these constructions.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Shani Abeysekara has been appointed as the Director of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), police stated.

The appointment has been made with the approval of the National Police Commission (NPC).

SSP Imesha Muthumala functioned as the CID Director until the appointment of SSP Abeysekara.

Three more human skeletal remains, including that of a child, were found from Chammani mass grave, where excavations resumed a day after the UN human rights chief visited the site in Jaffna.

Two of them were retrieved on 26 June itself, said lawyer and observer V.S. Niranjan.

By the time excavations were halted on 07 June for a lack of funding, skeletal remains of 21 persons had been unearthed there.

Among them were that of three children aged below 10 months, said forensic archaeologist Prof. Raj Somadeva, who leads the excavations.

UN human rights chief Volker Turk said at the gravesite on 25 June that an extensive, solid investigation by independent experts in forensic medicine were needed to find the truth.

Following instructions by the Jaffna magistrate, an undisclosed cost estimate for the excavations was submitted on 07 June.

Excavations resumed on the assumption that funding will be ready by Monday, said lawyer Niranjan.

Despite the green light, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) research vessel “Dr Fridtjof Nansen” is unlikely to visit Sri Lanka since approval came late, making timely scheduling for the survey here impossible, Daily Mirror learns.

Initially, approval was denied for the research ship due to the delay in formulating standard operating procedures (SOP) to deal with such vessels. However, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake granted approval earlier this week for the ship to arrive here and undertake research activities, including fish stock assessment.

An informed source said that the FAO committed the ship to do survey for Madagascar instead of Sri Lanka because of the delay in granting permission.

Named after the late Norwegian scientist, explorer and humanitarian who pioneered ocean research, the vessel flies the UN flag and is a platform for international cooperation between partner countries, researchers and partner organizations of the Programme.

Equipped with the most recent technology, its mission is to generate scientific knowledge about marine resources and ecosystems that can be used to support science-based decisions for the sustainable management of the ocean.

The current R/V Dr. Fridtjof Nansen is the third research vessel to bear the same name, owned by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) and operated by the Institute of Marine Research (IMR) in Norway. The first vessel was launched in 1974 and served for 19 years. The second vessel was built in 1993 and sailed over 605 000 nautical miles until its retirement in 2016, while the third started operating in 2017.