UNCLOS verdict soon over maritime dispute with India

Verdict of the UN Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) Tribunal over the Bangladesh-India maritime boundary dispute is likely to be announced within this month. Additional Foreign Secretary (UNCLOS) at the Foreign Ministry Khurshid Alam said the specific date of the announcement of verdict has not been fixed yet. “But the proceedings of the case have been prepared and it was set that the verdict will be announced in June 2014,” he said. Alam, who is dealing with the maritime boundary issue for last few years, informed that the UNCLOS tribunal is yet to inform Bangladesh about the date of announcement of its verdict. Bangladesh and neighbouring India have been locked in the maritime boundary disputes over 10 gas blocks in the Bay of Bengal. Both the nations have been claiming the area as their own. The maritime boundary between India and Bangladesh is not delineated. Both the countries co-occupy 180 km of a maritime borderline. There have always been claims and counter-claims and overlapping claims. The issue came to a head after India discovered huge hydrocarbon deposits in the Bay of Bengal, according to UNB.