The government may reward the officials concerned for their contribution to the achievement in maritime boundary dispute resolution with India.
The regular cabinet meeting yesterday also decided that the government would publish a gazette notification on the verdict issue. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina would brief the media soon on the achievement.
Meeting sources said the people concerned, including the premier and Maritime Affairs Unit’s Secretary Md Khurshid Alam, would be rewarded. But the decision was not finalised.
The Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague on July 7 awarded Bangladesh 19,467 sq-km disputed area out of total 25,602 sq-km claimed by Bangladesh. On March 14, 2012, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in Germany settled the maritime dispute between Bangladesh and Myanmar.
After the cabinet meeting, State Minister for Labour Mujibul Haque Chunnu told the Dhaka Tribune that the premier and members of the cabinet heard the proposal made by the state minister for foreign affairs. Though they were very positive, they did not make any comment in this regard.
Khurshid Alam made a presentation before the cabinet while the state minister for foreign affairs narrated the ministry’s achievements.
Criticising the statements of the BNP, the premier said: “They should refrain from making such comments as the government has achieved success.
“The South Talpatti Island sank during the tidal bore in 1984. But the Ziaur Rahman government removed Talpatti from the map of Bangladesh in 1980. Does it mean that Zia left the Talpatti to India?”
Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan told reporters that the government ordered the authorities concerned to take steps for publishing the gazette on the government’s achievement and the new maritime map immediately.