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Maritime Arbitration

BNP critical of govt handling

Staff Correspondent
BNP yesterday claimed that the recent verdict of an international tribunal over the disputed maritime boundary was the reflection of what India wished as Bangladesh has "lost its rights" on around 6,000 sq km area.
Vice-chairman Maj (retd) Hafizuddin Ahmed of BNP said this in a formal reaction to the verdict at a press conference at the party chairperson's Gulshan office.
Bangladesh legal team could not properly argue on the country's demands before the tribunal, he mentioned.
Also former water resources minister, the BNP leader said, Bangladesh has been deprived of its just rights of the sea boundary as skilled and experienced persons were not included in the legal team. We could've done better if we had appointed jurists like Dr Kamal Hossain."
He added: “The 25,000 sq km maritime boundary is not a disputed area. Rather, it is Bangladesh’s area. But Bangladesh has been affected by losing its rights over 6,000 sq km area to India.”
India, said Hafizuddin, appointed its judge P S Rao to the tribunal while Bangladesh picked a Ghanaian judge. "The Indian judge gave some note of dissents in the tribunal whereas the lawyer representing Bangladesh didn't give any to uphold country's interest," he noted.
He also pointed out that the Indian attorney general took part in the case proceedings but the Bangladesh attorney general did not.
The international arbitral tribunal in a landmark judgment on July 8 upheld Bangladesh's claim of 200 nautical miles exclusive economic zone and its territorial rights in the Bay ofBengal.
The court awarded Bangladesh 19,467 sq km area out of the disputed 25,602 sq km.
Hafizuddin claimed South Talpatti is part and parcel of Bangladesh and it was a big defeat for Bangladesh to lose its rights on the strategic area.
On the government's claim that there is no existence of the island, the BNP leader questioned why warships of the two countries had face-offs if it did not exist at all. "The Talpatti Island had been there. If the island is submerged now, it might arise again."
According to the Bangladesh foreign ministry, the island did not exist anymore and that it went under water after the cyclone at Urir Char in
1985. Besides, as per the Radcliffe boundary delimitation and all the maps published by Bangladesh till 1980, South Talpatti was never a part of Bangladesh.
Pointing to the "loss" of Talpatti Island, the former minister said Bangladesh has moved back nearly 4.5 kilometre east from its last southwestboundary.
He demanded the foreign ministry explain why no Bangladeshi judge was appointed to the international tribunal and why no note of dissent was given at the court by Bangladesh.
The government is giving political colour to the verdict in a bid to score political mileage, he complained.
BNP chairperson's foreign affairs advisers Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury and Reaz Rahman were present.