THE permanent court of arbitration in The Hague in its award settled the maritime boundary dispute between Bangladesh and India. It awarded 19,467 sq km of area to Bangladesh out of a total disputed area of about 25,602 sq km with India. In the delimitation process, Bangladesh lost South Talpatty which fell into the Indian territorial waters. A five-member tribunal delivered the finding on Monday which was released in Bangladesh on Tuesday. Though the full claim of Bangladesh was not accepted, we are happy that India also has agreed to abide by the award as a peaceful settlement of a long standing difference that could not be settled through bilateral discussions. The role of India should also be appreciated. If India had not agreed to go to international arbitration there would not have been an easy solution.No arbitration award is to be seen as victory of one against the other. The whole of arbitration is a peaceful settlement agreeable bothsides.The award opened the large prospect for assembling maritime resources, including exploring – oil and gas within our jurisdiction over the sea.The tribunal sustained Bangladesh’s claims of equitable solution to a full 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone and to a substantial share of the extended continental shelf beyond 200 NM. Bangladesh, according to the Foreign Minister, had finally won more than 118,813 square kilometers, comprising of the territorial sea, an exclusive economic zone extending out to 200 NM across a sizable area of the waters in the Bay in the maritime boundary cases with India and Myanmar.Most of the 10 gas blocks in the Bay which had disputes with India remained within Bangladesh waters but some readjustment would be made with four blocks, said Rear Admiral (retd) Khurshed Alam, Head of the Maritime Affairs Unit of the Foreign Ministry. Similarly, Bangladesh had to readjust around 12 blocks out of 17 with Myanmar after the ITLOS verdict on the delimitation of the boundary. The ITLOS awarded Bangladesh 70,000 sq km area out of the total disputed area of 80,000 sq km with Myanmar. Admitting the failure of Bangladesh in claiming the South Talpatti, Khurshed said the island did not exist anymore and that it went under water after the cyclone at Urir Char in 1985 and as per the Radcliffe boundary delimitation and all the maps published by Bangladesh till 1980.Terming the verdict a ‘victory for both states and victory of friendship- a win-win situation’, Foreign Minister said our maritime disputes were resolved peacefully and according to international law, adding that the problem had hampered the economic development of both countries for more than three decades.The verdict has rightfully accredited our claims of the full 200 nautical miles Exclusive Economic Zone in the Bay of Bengal. We call upon the government to protect maritime resources -by using skilled manpower through education and training, by collecting optimum levels of marine fish, and properly utilizing probable mineral resources to develop the fortunes of under-developed people, who are the absolute owners of the resources. To achieve the economic goals of the maritime boundary settlement, India and Bangladesh must now cooperate meaningfully in the spirit of cooperation.
