Unsettled Waters: How the Emergency Still Ripples through India’s Foreign Policy and the Tamil Fishing Crisis

Half a century after India’s Emergency period of 1975–1977, its legal and geopolitical consequences are still playing out, most visibly in the waters between India and Sri Lanka.

At a recent youth Parliament event, India’s External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar made headlines by directly linking the longstanding issue of Indian fishermen being arrested by Sri Lankan authorities to a pact forged during the Emergency era.

Jaishankar asserted that decisions made without parliamentary debate during the Emergency, including a maritime boundary agreement with Sri Lanka, resulted in India giving up the rights of its fishermen to fish in certain areas of Sri Lankan waters.

“At the time, several big decisions were taken without a debate… 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.

The statement, delivered during the 50th anniversary of the Emergency, wasn’t just an indictment of the Congress government of that era but also an attempt to explain the contemporary crisis facing fishermen from Tamil Nadu, a crisis that has escalated dramatically in recent years.

A Dangerous Livelihood

In 2024 alone, Sri Lanka arrested over 528 Indian fishermen, according to government data cited by multiple news outlets. These arrests typically occur in the Palk Strait, a narrow strip of water separating Tamil Nadu and the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. The area is rich in marine biodiversity but is politically fraught.

Fishermen from Tamil Nadu have long claimed traditional fishing rights in these waters, but the Sri Lankan authorities view such intrusions as illegal.

The increasing number of arrests and boat seizures has sparked outrage in India, particularly in Tamil Nadu, where Chief Minister M. K. Stalin has repeatedly urged the Union government to intervene.

As reported by The Indian Express, Stalin wrote to the Ministry of External Affairs following multiple incidents where Indian fishermen were attacked or detained. In one such case in early May 2025, nine fishermen from Nagapattinam were assaulted and robbed by alleged Sri Lankan nationals while fishing just 12 nautical miles off the coast. Many returned with serious injuries and lost their equipment and catch.

Adding to the tension, the Sri Lankan government has reportedly planned to scuttle over 30 seized Indian boats to create artificial reefs. Stalin described the move as a “direct threat to Tamil Nadu fishermen’s livelihoods”.

The Emergency-Era Pact: A Quiet Ceding

The current diplomatic strain can be traced back to the controversial 1974 and 1976 agreements signed between India and Sri Lanka. During the Emergency, India ceded the uninhabited island of Katchatheevu to Sri Lanka.

While the initial agreement granted Indian fishermen certain “traditional rights”, the 1976 exchange of letters between both countries effectively prohibited them from fishing in Sri Lankan waters altogether.

Critics argue these pacts were made in haste, without adequate consultation or parliamentary oversight, a consequence of the authoritarian decision-making during the Emergency.

Jaishankar himself, who was a student at Jawaharlal Nehru University during the Emergency, called it “a time when Parliament was not genuine… opposition leaders were in jail and critical decisions went unchallenged.”

According to him, the 38th, 39th and 42nd constitutional amendments passed during the Emergency eroded civil liberties and insulated the ruling elite from legal accountability. “These decisions taken at the time still show their impact in the state of Tamil Nadu,” he said, pointing directly to the current maritime conflict.

Fishing, Technology and Ecological Fallout

Beyond political blame, the issue is deeply rooted in a confluence of ecological and technological changes.

The overuse of bottom trawlers, a fishing method banned in Sri Lanka since 2017, has not only depleted marine life but also inflamed tensions across the maritime border.

While Indian fishermen argue economic necessity forces them to use trawlers, Sri Lankan fishermen accuse them of damaging the seabed and destroying their fishing nets.

Reports in The Hindu and Al Jazeera have documented widespread resentment among Sri Lankan Tamil fishermen who say their livelihoods are being destroyed by Indian vessels.

Indian trawlers, powered by larger engines and superior equipment, reportedly catch far more than their Sri Lankan counterparts and stray well into Sri Lanka’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

Indian officials, for their part, claim that many arrests happen when fishermen inadvertently drift across the poorly demarcated maritime boundary, often due to winds, tides, or GPS malfunctions.

According to Al Jazeera, a record 535 Indian fishermen were arrested by Sri Lanka in 2024, with around 200 still in custody as of the end of the year. Detainees often report harsh conditions, including poor sanitation, lack of access to legal aid and minimal contact with Indian diplomatic staff.

Katchatheevu: More than Just an Island

Katchatheevu remains a symbolic flashpoint. Though just 285 acres in size, it represents a deep wound in Tamil Nadu’s political memory.

The island, located midway between Rameswaram and Sri Lanka’s Jaffna Peninsula, is viewed by Tamil fishermen as an ancestral ground for both fishing and pilgrimage.

Both AIADMK and DMK governments in Tamil Nadu have over the years petitioned the Centre to retrieve the island.

In March 2024, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi reignited the debate by stating that the Congress government had “callously given away” Katchatheevu, and that his government would explore options to reclaim rights over it.

While India has not officially sought to renegotiate the agreement, the debate has returned to the national stage, especially with general elections on the horizon in Tamil Nadu.

Diplomatic Dilemmas

India’s Ministry of External Affairs has maintained that it engages regularly with Sri Lanka through the Joint Working Group on Fisheries and diplomatic channels to address concerns. Yet the arrests and incidents continue unabated.

The challenge lies in balancing domestic political pressure with strategic regional interests. Sri Lanka is a vital partner in India’s Indian Ocean strategy, especially in light of growing Chinese influence in the region. Any diplomatic confrontation must tread carefully.

Nevertheless, as reported by The New Indian Express, Tamil Nadu’s political leadership insists the central government should establish a formal bilateral treaty to protect traditional fishing rights and prevent the criminalisation of poor fishermen.

Lives in the Crosshairs

For fishermen on both sides of the divide, the debate about geopolitics, pacts and historical grievances offers little solace. What they experience is the fear of arrest, loss of livelihood and sometimes even violence.

One fisherman from Rameswaram, quoted in The Times of India, lamented, “We go to sea with hope and return with fear. Our boats are our only wealth. When they take that, they take everything.”

Human rights advocates have called for humanitarian protocols to ensure that detained fishermen are treated with dignity and returned swiftly. Some have proposed joint patrols, better demarcation and GPS alerts to prevent unintentional border crossings.

Lessons from the Past

Dr Jaishankar’s remarks serve as a potent reminder that decisions made without democratic process can echo across decades. Whether the Emergency-era maritime agreements were necessary or shortsighted is a matter of historical debate, but their impact today is indisputable.

As India commemorates 50 years since the Emergency, the plight of Tamil Nadu’s fishermen is a sobering reflection on how undebated diplomacy can shape, and endanger lives far from the corridors of power.

If solutions are to be found, they must address not just the legality of maritime boundaries but also the human cost of ignoring democratic checks and balances.

For the fishermen of Tamil Nadu and the Northern Province of Sri Lanka, the sea remains a place not of livelihood alone, but of risk, history and unresolved injustice.