Maritime boundary: Bangladesh should lodge protest Faruque Ahmed The country's territorial waters up to the 350 nautical miles continental shelf are becoming the centre of growing contest from two of her neighbours such as India and Myanmar. Their claims appear highly wishful and partly hegemonistic at a time when Bangladesh lost valuable time over the past two decades to determine its sea line for exploiting its resources. Both fishery and mineral resources including gas and oil in the country's exclusive economic zone have growing importance now with expansion of population and growing demand on resources, experts say. Equitable sharing of maritime boundary Senior officials of India and Bangladesh are going to open talks on the maritime boundary of both the countries in Delhi on March 17 and 18. It will be the second such meeting with India after the first meeting held in 1982. The foreign office sources said the meeting at expert level will try to agree on certain principles how to determine the sea line. India and Myanmar are reportedly pressing for applying a principle of equidistance to fix the line, while Bangladesh is for a compromise based on equitable sharing of territorial waters in the sea. Politicians' indifference There are so many ways and criteria and both sides are going to open the dialogue to arrive at a compromise point. If they fail, they may take the assistance of United Nations arbitration based on the international law of the sea, sources said. Bangladesh's territorial water is estimated to have more than two lakh square kilometers area which is twice as much of its surface landmass. But the country's political leaders and policy makers so far remained indifferent to its offshore waters. They had little concern about this vital issue. Even they have had little concern about it until in the past luring the neighbours to make arbitrary claims on Bangladesh's exclusive economic zones. Bangladesh's failure When our political leaders were sitting idle, others were busy establishing control and take away the wealth. In October last year, Myanmar moved exploration rigs in Gas Block-13 of the Bay of Bengal claiming ownership on the area and around it. Later it sent war ships to protect the rig when Bangladesh moved naval presence in the area to free it from illegal occupants. Meanwhile, India also sent survey ships in two Gas Blocks D-22 and D-23 which Bangladesh claimed that these are located in its own economic zone. Sources say India has stopped the survey pending discussions to resolve the issue. So also Bangladesh is failing to initiate exploitation of gas in most of its gas blocks on protest from Indian and Myanmar side. Claim by India, Myanmar Commodore (Retired) Khurshed Alam at a seminar recently said though Bangladesh has 28 gas blocks in the offshore waters, India is claiming ownership on 10 of them while Myanmar is claiming right on nine more. So if Bangladesh accepts their claims, it may have only nine gas blocks left to its use in the country's continental shelf and its economic zone forcing us to withdraw closer to its shore line. Nonetheless, the recent confrontation in the sea has opened the eyes of the country's leadership and the newly elected government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has taken fresh move to sort out the matter with the neighbours. The window of discussion with Myanmar has also opened and negotiation is on to reach an amicable solution to the problem. Commodore Khurshed said the past governments should have taken the move at least two decades ago to start exploitation of gas and other petroleum resources in the sea. CG's blunder The negligence had only helped intensify the problem. Even in the recent past when the Caretaker Government (CG) opened the third round bidding of offshore gas blocks, it moved on without sorting out issues with neighbours. India and Myanmar opposed such move and wrote to international oil companies (IOCs) interested in taking part in the bidding not to join the process since they have claimed most of the blocks, they said. As a result, the response to third bidding was quite poor and confined to only nine blocks. It means India and Myanmar have so far become successful to make the remaining 20 gas blocks of Bangladesh partly disputed and subject to negotiation to settle the ownership issue. Delhi's move in 1974 India wrote similar letters to IOCs in 1974 when Bangladesh tried to bring foreign companies to gas exploration in the offshore waters around the Sundarbans which is quite close to the shore thus indicating many gas blocks in remote waters more vulnerable to their claims. What Bangladesh should do Experts say, if Bangladesh fails to resolve territorial waters issues in mutually arranged talks, then she should go to the UN arbitration. But you have to have a lot of exercise in the process, they said. In the first place, they say, Bangladesh will have to submit its claims on the continental shelf and sea line to the specialised UN agencies which Dhaka is scheduled to make not earlier than 2011, at least 10 years after from the date of ratification of the UN law of the sea. Meanwhile, Myanmar has already presented such claim to the UN agency last year while India is going to make it this year. Myanmar claims covers much of Bangladesh's sea line while India is likely to make similar claims reducing Bangladesh's claim to sea to only a small corridor extending to the high sea. Mere presentation will not however, establish their claim until Bangladesh is making its own claim, experts say. But they are taking the lead to put Bangladesh in the backstage defending its claim, which does not auger well. Experts say, Bangladesh should lodge protest against such claims to make India and Myanmar's claim at least disputed before it is filing its claim by 2011. Experts say, sea is becoming more important now in terms of resources to develop the nations and feed its growing population. And big powers are increasingly becoming hegemonistic in the process to deny the legitimate rights of its small neighbours. The latest developments in the sea is thus exposing the country to new security threats. In the process, the USA has offered the service of guarding the country's sea line. And it is opening a new debate as some experts favour it while many critics take with scepticism the offer saying it may protect the waters but who will protect the country from the big saviour. South Talpatty Experts say the sea is becoming a growing threat. Referring to India's denial of Bangladesh's right on the South Talpatty island. They say although the international border demarcation in the region and water flows of rivers clearly establishes the country's right on the extended landmass emerging from the sea, Delhi is claiming its ownership on it. So the country's new leadership should chart out policy moves how to face the new challenges and protect the country's sovereignty in the sea. Experts here say, the opening of dialogue with India on demarcation of the sea line to open the exploitation of resources as well as its management is a good beginning now at a time the regional countries are taking the issue together. |
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