Bangladesh Wins Maritime Boundary Dispute With India: Gained 19,467 Sq Km

"The Arbitral Tribunal in the Hague sustained Bangladesh's claims of equitable solution to a full 200 nautical mile (NM) exclusive economic zone in Bay of Bengal and to a substantial share of the extended continental shelf beyond 200 NM," Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali announced in a crowded press conference at his office.

He said the five- member tribunal agreed with Bangladesh that the "equidistance" method proposed for dividing the disputed waters between the two neighboring States was not equitable to Bangladesh.

Ali said according to the verdict, Bangladesh finally won more than 1,18,813 square kilometers of waters comprising territorial sea, exclusive economic zone extending out to 200 NM across sizable area.

He said the judgment also gave Bangladesh "undeniable sovereign rights in the sea bed extending as far as 354 NM from Chittagong coast in the Bay of Bengal with all the living and non living resources".

"To achieve an equitable result, the tribunal awarded Bangladesh 19,467 sq km of area out of total disputed area of 25,602 sq km (approx)," the minister said.

The verdict of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) came two years after Bangladesh won a nearly identical maritime dispute with Myanmar at the German-based International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS).

The decision came largely to Bangladesh's favour on the basis of 'equitable' solutions while Dhaka at that time claimed 80,000 square kilometer and gained 70,000.

Bangladesh's agent to the tribunal and former foreign minister Dipu Moni and deputy agent and secretary maritime affairs retired rear admiral Khurshid Alam also spoke at the press conference, joined by prime minister's adviser HT Imam, state minister for foreign affairs Shahriar Alam and senior foreign ministry officials.

Bangladesh in 2010 decided to go for international arbitration in line with the provisions of United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) as the ongoing discussions with India and Myanmar could not yield the expected results.

Dhaka earlier said it kept options open for solving the disputes bilaterally though it sought the resolution in the international tribunal as the negotiations in the past several decades yielded no result.

The minister said the arbitral tribunal award "cannot be appealed (and) is binding on both states" while it brought to an end in the arbitral process that was launched by Bangladesh in respect of Myanmar and India under the UNCLOS in 2009.

He, however, described the judgment as a "win-win" situation for the both countries and viewed it as a step forward for Bangladesh as well as for India.

"By finally resolving a problem that had been an issue in the side of bilateral relations for so long and by doing so peacefully and according to international law, the award enables both sides to move forward confidently into a new future and to build a new era of understanding and cooperation in the maritime sector," Ali said.

The tribunal, however, kept a "gray area" saying "the Tribunal's delimitation of the Parties' exclusive economic zones and of the continental shelf within and beyond 200 nm gives rise to an area that lies beyond 200 nm from the coast of Bangladesh and within 200 nm from the coast of India, and yet lies to the east of the Tribunal's delimitation line".

"The resulting "grey area" is a practical consequence of the delimitation process. Such an area will arise whenever the entitlements of two States to the continental shelf extend beyond
200 nm and relevant circumstances call for a boundary at other than the equidistance line at or beyond the 200 nm limit in order to provide an equitable delimitation," the tribunal verdict read.

The press briefing at the foreign office, however, was told that under the verdict Bangladesh was entitled to the geological and hydrocarbon resources beneath the sea line while India was given the right fish in the region.

The judgment recalled that a similar situation arose between Bangladesh and Myanmar as a result of the delimitation line drawn by the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.

The judgment in that case also held that in the area beyond Bangladesh's exclusive economic zone that is within the limits of Myanmar's exclusive economic zone, the maritime boundary delimits the Parties' rights with respect to the seabed and subsoil of the continental shelf but does not otherwise limit Myanmar's rights with respect to the exclusive economic zone, notably those with respect to the superjacent waters.

"The Tribunal emphasizes that beyond 200 nm from Bangladesh's coast, it has an entitlement only to the seabed and its subsoil pursuant to the legal regime governing the continental shelf. Within the grey area, Bangladesh has no entitlement to an exclusive economic zone that would give it sovereign rights in the water column or over the living resources therein," the judgment read.

The judgment added:"It is for the Parties to determine the measures they consider appropriate in this respect, including through the conclusion of further agreements or the creation of a cooperative arrangement. The Tribunal is confident that the Parties will act, both jointly and individually, to ensure that each is able to exercise its rights and perform its duties within this area".

Speaking on the occasion, Dipu Moni, during whose tenure as the foreign minister Bangladesh sought to seek the resolution of the maritime dispute in international arbitration, said resolution of the disputes upheld Bangladesh's constitutional policy for peaceful resolution of disputes as well as manifested "our respect for international law".

She said it was the post-independence Bangabandhu government which first realized the importance of the Bay of Bengal and the resources lying therein which prompted him to establish legal entitlements of the people of Bangladesh to the apportionment of maritime areas and exploitation of marine resources therein, in 1974.

The country, she said, eventually guaranteed its due rights in the sea while her daughter was at the helm of affairs while Awami League was in power again.

Bangladesh declared 12 NM of territorial sea and 200 NM Economic Zone well before such concept was even developed widely in the international arena. Bangabandhu also initiated maritime boundary negotiations with India and Myanmar and even settled the 12 NM territorial sea boundary with Myanmar in Nov 1974.

Ali said the post 1975 governments paid the least, if not, no attention to the importance of sea and its much valued resources for the economic development of the country.

While the Government of Bangladesh signed the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) it remained un-ratified since its adoption in 1982. Again, it is the Government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina (1996- 2001) that ratified the UNCLOS in 2001 and thus Bangladesh became full member of the convention in July 2001.

-Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS)