Bangladesh has won the arbitration case over the delimitation of maritime boundary with India in the Bay of Bengal on Monday. According to the Netherlands-based Permanent Court of Arbitration, Bangladesh will have control over 19,467 sq-km out of the 25,000 sq-km disputed area. This is indeed great news for Bangladesh. Given how the Bay of Bengal is closely related to our livelihoods, nutrition and energy needs, the positive outcome of the arbitration will contribute to the long-term interests of the country and future generations.
The verdict is another feather in the cap of the present government. Since the government came to office in 2009, a political decision was made to resolve prevailing maritime disputes through international courts. It may be often fashionable to criticise the government, but we should give them credit when it is deserved as an incentive for prudent policies and good governance. Kudos to the prime minister and Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials, including current and former ministers/state ministers in the last five years, for this major legal breakthrough. The successive victories in arbitration cases with India and Myanmar no doubt serve as a vindication of the government’s judicious (no pun intended) foreign policy and legal strategy.
This verdict will take Bangladesh-India ties – our most important bilateral relationship – to greater heights by bringing an end to the longstanding maritime conflict between the two countries. During the Indian foreign minister’s recent visit to Bangladesh, her spokesman reiterated India’s commitment to accept the verdict irrespective of the outcome. The Bangladesh foreign minister also expressed his confidence that the verdict would strengthen our relationship with India further.
The government has shown the way to promote national interest and resolve disputes amicably with neighbours. The irony is that vested groups will continue to accuse the government of kowtowing to our neighbour, despite the win in the arbitration case.
It seems as if a section of political leaders and civil society would prefer to prolong our bilateral disputes to reap partisan mileage through anti-Indian rhetoric and propaganda instead of resolving them. The important lesson here is that the solution to bilateral disputes is through proactive diplomacy (and in some cases arbitration), not loud slogans in the streets.
Good job, Bangladesh. May our bilateral ties with India and other neighbours grow stronger, resolving our disputes for a better, more importantly, shared future.
Post-script: Sadly, our resounding victory in the maritime arbitration case is being criticised by partisan groups and individuals in the pretext of South Talpatti (New Moore) that does not exist anymore. A little bit of background information may be useful to see the validity of this argument: South Talpatti was an uninhabited area (in fact, more an offshore landform than an “island”) that surfaced through the 1970 cyclone and disappeared a long time back in the 1985 cyclone. A recent study confirmed the landform has now permanently ceased to exist due to climate change and rise of sea levels.
Given the so-called “distress” over a non-existent land form, the Germans should perhaps also be in angst over the single goal conceded to Brazil by their football team instead of the seven scored in Wednesday’s World Cup semi-final.
