Bangladesh rejects India's all delimitation claims Moinuddin Naser in New York Bangladesh has submitted a note to the United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) last week rejecting all delimitation claims of India stating that the country has initiated an arbitration proceeding against India on October 28 last for achieving a delimitation of the boundaries in the Territorial Sea (TS), Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and Continental Shelf (CS).  Meanwhile India has objected to Myanmar's submission claiming the continental shelf in the Bay of Bengal and so on. With the submission of dispute by Bangladesh the Commission may ultimately defer the issue until the final submission of Bangladesh by July 27, 2011. Bilateral solution Meanwhile Bangladesh has opted for resolving the issue both with India and Myanmar bilaterally. While Dhaka has opted for pure bilateral solution with Yangon, it has involved the UNCLOS. All the three parties are signatories of the UNCLOS. Bangladesh's note verbale against Myanmar's submission was discussed in the 24th session of the Commission on the limits of the Continental Shelf which was held in August this year. In its remark on Bangladesh's note verbale, Myanmar said that the responsibility of giving proof about rejecting Myanmar's claim is on Bangladesh. If Bangladesh could resolve the issue with Myanmar and India through bilateral stipulation, that would ease the tension. The Bangladesh's note against Indian submission, obtained from the UN website dated October 29, 2009, states that "based on its initial review of the Executive Summary of India's submission, the Government of Bangladesh observes that the submission fails to comply on both substantive and procedural grounds with UNCLOS and with the rules of procedure of the Commission". Dhaka's rights, claims The major elements of disputes as were described in the note, state that "Bangladesh continues to reject all delimitations claimed by India in the Bay of Bengal" to the extent they infringe on the rights and claims of Bangladesh as they are inconsistent with UNCLOS and general international law. "On 8th October 2009 Bangladesh initiated arbitration proceedings against India, pursuant to UNCLOS Article 287 and annex VII for the purpose of achieving a delimitation of the boundaries between Bangladesh and India in the TS, EEZ and CS. The unresolved delimitation in the Bay of Bengal is therefore to be considered as a dispute." Natural prolongation The note added that the "actions of the Commission may not prejudice matters relating to the delimitation of boundaries between States with adjacent or opposite coasts. India's submission invites the Commission to do just that, because the areas claimed by India in its submission to the Commission as part of its putative continental shelf are the natural prolongation of Bangladesh and hence India's claim is disputed by Bangladesh." Outer edge of the Bay The note further states that India has claimed a natural prolongation of its landmass through the outer edge of the 'Bay of Bengal Sector' and the 'Western Andamans Sector'. "The Government of Bangladesh believes this asserction is not supported by morphological, geological, or tectonic evidences. Scientific research and analysis have established that the morphology of the seabed in the Bay of Bengal is marked by a regional slope where water depth gradually increases in a seaward direction from North to South." Further submissions "Bangladesh has also reserved its rights for further submissions in this regard," adds the note, "and stated that the Government of Bangladesh observd that, given the presence of a dispute between Bangladesh and India concerning entitlement to the parts of the continental shelf in the Bay of Bengal claimed by India" in its submission, the Commission may not "consider and qualify" the submission made by India without the "prior consent given by all states that are parties to such a dispute." Bangladesh has suggested to "consider both the submissions of India and Bangladesh together" while Bangladesh submission will be made by July 2011. The note was prepared by the US law firm Foley Hoag, which is guiding Bangladesh for resolving the delimitation issue through arbitration. |
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