India, June 7 -- Over the past few days, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar addressed the longstanding and sensitive issue of Katchatheevu, a small island whose sovereignty remains contested between India and Sri Lanka. This dispute, along with other recurring conflicts such as the Cauvery water dispute, Mullaperiyar Dam controversy, and Palar river issues, tends to resurface annually in public discourse before gradually fading away.
Minister Jaishankar traced the origins of the Katchatheevu matter back to the early 1970s. Correspondences from that era reveal that the then Indian Foreign Secretary Kewal Singh engaged in discussions with Tamil Nadu's Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi and other officials in ...