Bangladesh has appealed to the United Nations to resolve its decade-long dispute with India over the maritime demarcation in the southern Bay of Bengal, Turkey-based Anadolu Agency reported.
Bangladesh’s Permanent Mission to the UN headquarters in New York filed two appeals last week to the UN Secretary-General against India, protesting the straight baselines in the Bay of Bengal that are being claimed by India.
“This dispute has been hanging for many years between the two neighbours and both countries have failed to solve it through bilateral dialogues despite dozens of meetings over the issue. Now both nations have gone to the UN and we hope that the world’s biggest platform will provide a sustainable solution,” Shahidul Haque, former Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh, told Anadolu Agency.
He further said Bangladesh has played its role by submitting its plea to the UN and now our neighbouring country should face the arbitration process at the UN platform.
This year in April, India sent a letter to the UN opposing the baseline set by Bangladesh.
Chowdhury Rafiqul Abrar, a diplomatic analyst and professor of international relations at Dhaka University, told the news agency: “The Bay of Bengal is a unique resource for Bangladesh and the supreme authority for its legal sea territory is related to the country’s sovereignty”.
He has also urged India to follow the provisions of the UN Convention on the law of the sea in resolving the dispute.
He added that both the countries are claiming to be in good terms with each other and he is expecting both the countries to accept the decision which will be taken by the UN over the issue.
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