Awami League General Secretary and LGRD Minister Syed Ashraful Islam yesterday thanked the Indian government for accepting the verdict on the maritime boundary dispute claiming that Bangladesh had got fair share in the Bay of Bengal.
“This victory is not a defeat for any country as the issue has not been settled through a war. This achievement has come through legal procedure,” he said while addressing a rally organised by the Awami League city unit on Bangabandhu Avenue in the capital.
Ashraf said Bangladesh went to court to establish its rights in the Bay of Bengal and got the desired verdict.
“Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has proved that peace can be established in legal way without locking in a war,” he said.
On Monday, the Permanent Court of Arbitration at the Hague awarded Bangladesh 19,467 square kilometres out of total 25,602 sq-km disputed area in the Bay of Bengal.
Marking the occasion, Dhaka city unit brought out a procession and organised the rally later.
Senior AL leaders, including Matia Chowdhury, Mahbub-ul-Alam Hanif, Ahmad Hossain, Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury, Hasan Mahmud, Abdus Sobhan Golap and Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya, among others, addressed the rally with city unit acting president MA Aziz in the chair.
Ashraf said no government in the past went to court for settling the dispute in the Bay.
He claimed that Ziaur Rahman, HM Ershad and Khaleda Zia were in power, but they did not talk on the issue rather Sheikh Hasina went to court against Myanmar in 2009 and against India last year.
“The verdict has also come in favour of Bangladesh. And here is the difference between Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia as Sheikh Hasina can do everything the country needs,” he said.
Mentioning the foreign policy taken by Bangabandhu, the AL leader said nothing could be resolved through war.
“Israel and Palestine have been in war for 60 years, but they are yet to come to a solution. But our policy is friendship with all, malice for none,” he said.
