New Delhi: India registered its objection with the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf against a claim of Bangladesh on the continental shelf in the Bay of Bengal, making resolution of the matter difficult, said foreign ministry officials.
The resolution of the Bangladesh’s claim on the continental shelf has been pending with the UN for about 13 years as Myanmar registered some observations on the claim involving outer continental shelf and Bangladesh too put an objection on record contesting the claim of India on the continental shelf, according to Bangladesh diplomats.
India put an objection on record, raising questions about the coordinates used by Bangladesh as a basis for its claim at the UN commission in New York for determining rights on the continental shelf, they said.
They believe that India registered the objection as a pressure tactic as Bangladesh declined to entertain a request to withdraw the objection contesting India’s claim on the continental shelf.
Bangladesh was unwilling to withdraw the objection on India’s claim at the UN commission as the next door neighbour was unwilling to resolve a dispute involving Bangladesh’s right on the ‘grey area’ in the deep sea, they said.
‘The Bangladesh government would submit a reply to the CLCS after examining the statement made by India,’ foreign ministry secretary for maritime affairs unit Khurshed Alam told New Age.
A suitable reply would also be submitted at the CLCS about the observations of Myanmar on the claim of Bangladesh in the continental shelf, he said.
Prime minister Sheikh Hasina raised the matter involving the disputes on the deep sea claims in a meeting with her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi on October 5, 2019 at Hyderabad House in New Delhi, Bangladesh diplomats said.
She handed over a map of the Bay of Bengal to the Indian side asking them to accept Bangladesh’s claim on a part of the ‘grey area’ in the deep sea.
But the matter remained unresolved as the Indian side was seeking an speedy and unilateral withdrawal of Bangladesh’s objection with the United Nations contesting Indian claims involving the continental shelf, with keeping Bangladesh’s claim on the ‘grey area’ pending for an unlimited period, Bangladesh diplomats told New Age.
The judgements in the maritime delimitation cases involving Bangladesh and Myanmar in 2012 and between Bangladesh and India in 2014 have resulted in a ‘grey area’ in the northern Bay of Bengal involving intersecting and overlapping rights in terms of the exclusive economic zone and continental shelf regimes. Asian Peace
