Editorial
Maritime issue with Myanmar
The government must act with speed to resolve it
WE are glad to note that a potential conflict situation with Myanmar has been averted. The situation had stemmed from Myanmar's illegal conduct of exploration activity in our territorial waters. It is on record that Bangladesh had, thorough an act of parliament, defined its various territorial limits in the Bay of Bengal as long back as in 1974, which is in consonance with the international laws and regulations.
What is of importance here is that for Bangladesh the cut off year is 2011 for it to complete the delimitation of its claims and send that to the UN for acceptance as per UNCLOS III, which was approved in 1982 and came into effect as a law in 1994. But before that it will need to sit with the other two co-littoral states, India and Myanmar,
One is baffled at the fact that there has been very little movement in this regard in the last 20 years, and the diplomatic slumber is quite inexplicable, given the fact that our territorial waters have been encroached upon from time to time. The fact that we sat down for dialogue with Myanmar for the first time after almost 20 years, in early 2008, suggests that the issue had been given very little priority by successive governments. We know of no public debate in this regard nor are we aware of any policy position on the ways that governments wanted to address the issue. And that begs the question. All successive governments are to take the blame for the laid back attitude on a matter that has to do with establishing our sovereign right on our territorial waters.
Government should have kept the nation informed of the developments in this regard, particularly the position of India and Myanmar, and how that impinges on our right to the EEZ and the Continental Shelf, a right that is accorded by the law of the sea.
As for the recent Myanmar encroachment inside our territorial waters, we understand that the area was leased out to the Korean company in 2005 by Myanmar, which had conducted initial survey of the area before the recent move was initiated. We cannot believe that the foreign office was not aware of these facts. That being so, it is either that we were lacking in projecting our position robustly, or that the Myanmar authorities had taken us for granted. Both are matters that cause us concern.
There are two matters that the Bangladesh government must address urgently in view of 2011. First, rev up the expert group on delimitation and prepare all relevant data that will help back up our claims. Secondly, involve the other parties in meaningful dialogue, which has not taken place for a long time, and resolve the issue equitably.
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