Claiming that there is an inconsistency in the verdict on disputed maritime boundary, BNP on Tuesday said it will help India establish its dominance over the exclusive economic zone of the Bay of Bengal.
“I’ve noticed some inconsistencies in the verdict. We think Bangladesh hasn’t got its due right over the exclusive economic zone of the Bay of Bengal. It’s India which has got dominance over the zone and the continental shelf,” BNP vice chairman M Hafizuddin Ahmed told UNB.
Giving his reaction to the verdict, Hafiz said Bangladesh got 177.3 degrees against its demand for 180 degrees in the verdict. “So, we haven’t got the justice,” he claimed.
Hafiz, also a former water resources minister, voiced frustration as Bangladesh has lost control over Talpatty Island through the verdict.
“Since Ziaur Rahman’s rule, we’ve been demanding Talpatty as the part of our land. But Bangladesh has been deprived of its right over the Island with the verdict.”
The International Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) situated at the Netherlands delivered the verdict on Monday.
Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali officially disclosed the verdict at a crowded press conference at the Foreign Ministry on Tuesday afternoon.
With this verdict, Bangladesh has won more than 118,813 square kilometers of waters comprising territorial sea, exclusive economic zone extending out to 200 NM across sizable area, and also have ‘undeniable’ sovereign rights in the seabed extending as far as 354 NM from Chittagong coast in the Bay of Bengal with all the living and non-living.
Source: UNB
