Snail's pace in a game of speed
Friday, 12 December 2008
M A Kabir
THOUGH procrastination and sloth are the characteristic features of the government, especially in the policymaking sector, those are more strikingly conspicuous in the task of demarcating our Exclusive Economic Zone (EEG) in the Bay of Bengal than in any other areas. This vital task, on which depends the country's future so much, has been neglected and compromised most unpardonably.
The United Nations Commission on the Laws of the Seas (UNCLOS) required that the countries bordering on oceans lay their claims to the EEZs at the fastest. It is incredible but a fact that during the 19 years that Bangladesh signed its adherence to the UNCLOS, no move has been made to determine the size of its EEG and lay claim to it on the basis of proper surveys.
Reportedly, our foreign ministry embarked on an eleventh hour desktop study last year to prepare only a database for claiming the EEG whereas the vital requirements are a preliminary survey followed immediately by an extensive hydrographic survey. The resources for carrying out such surveys are substantial but nothing that the country cannot put up or sacrifice considering what is at stake.
India and Myanmar have already staked their claims on large areas of the EEG in the Bay, where Bangladesh was rightful claimant to those areas. In the absence of the record of an earlier claim to the EEG by Bangladesh, these countries are having a head start in not only saying that they are the sovereign owners of these areas but in some cases such as the South Talpatty island, they are actually exercising rights as occupiers. Occupation itself is an advantage for the occupier and the claimant faces the double hurdles to legally establishing rights to a territory after it has already been occupied and then to taking physical steps to dislodge the occupier. Bangladesh government has allowed the country to be in this difficult situation by its inexcusable foot dragging in respect of an issue of very great significance for the country.
THOUGH procrastination and sloth are the characteristic features of the government, especially in the policymaking sector, those are more strikingly conspicuous in the task of demarcating our Exclusive Economic Zone (EEG) in the Bay of Bengal than in any other areas. This vital task, on which depends the country's future so much, has been neglected and compromised most unpardonably.
The United Nations Commission on the Laws of the Seas (UNCLOS) required that the countries bordering on oceans lay their claims to the EEZs at the fastest. It is incredible but a fact that during the 19 years that Bangladesh signed its adherence to the UNCLOS, no move has been made to determine the size of its EEG and lay claim to it on the basis of proper surveys.
Reportedly, our foreign ministry embarked on an eleventh hour desktop study last year to prepare only a database for claiming the EEG whereas the vital requirements are a preliminary survey followed immediately by an extensive hydrographic survey. The resources for carrying out such surveys are substantial but nothing that the country cannot put up or sacrifice considering what is at stake.
India and Myanmar have already staked their claims on large areas of the EEG in the Bay, where Bangladesh was rightful claimant to those areas. In the absence of the record of an earlier claim to the EEG by Bangladesh, these countries are having a head start in not only saying that they are the sovereign owners of these areas but in some cases such as the South Talpatty island, they are actually exercising rights as occupiers. Occupation itself is an advantage for the occupier and the claimant faces the double hurdles to legally establishing rights to a territory after it has already been occupied and then to taking physical steps to dislodge the occupier. Bangladesh government has allowed the country to be in this difficult situation by its inexcusable foot dragging in respect of an issue of very great significance for the country.