Had Talpotti existed, sea of the country would have shrunk:Daily Sun

  Had the submerged island Dakkhin Talpotti existed, Bangladesh may have got sea area less than what it has got now. According to the 1947 Radcliffe boundary demarcation line, Talpotti area fell inside India. In the sea boundary dispute case, India requested the international tribunal to count “base point” from Talpotti island. If the tribunal had accepted the Indian plea, the base point would hav
e entered into Bangladesh. As a result, Bangladesh was likely to be deprived of huge areas in the sea. Bangladesh won the case over maritime boundary dispute with neighboring India recently. The International Tribunal for Law of the Sea (ITLOS) awarded Bangladesh an area of 19,467 square kilometres in the Bay of Bengal out of total 25,602 sq km area under dispute with the next-door neighbour. During bilateral talks between the two countries, India did not agree to give Bangladesh two thirds of the area given by the international court now. The recent verdict has ensured a great victory of the country. Following the verdict, Bangladesh has got the whole portion of the Raimangal river while India is in possession of Hariabhanga river. India had been claiming Raimangal river before the tribunal settled the dispute. However, maritime expert Nur Mohammad said the tribunal which pronounced the recent verdict has no jurisdiction of making partition between the sea and the island. As the tribunal drew the maritime boundary line towards the Radcliffe demarcation, the two rivers have fallen under the area of two countries. The experts who were concerned with the maritime boundary dispute said sands of the sunken island are moving. It was largely devoured by erosion. Anytime in the future it may rise. In that case, its location may shift. It is learnt that sea boundary line has been drawn just beside the Talpotti island. There are two channels—one “deep” and the other “shallow”. The court has given deep channel to Bangladesh while the shallow one to India. Diplomatic sources said India needs the deep channel for navigation and waterways communications. The sea boundary of India and Bangladesh was divided in 1947. The two countries could not do anything to solve the matter. The tribunal clarified the share of both countries in light of 1947 demarcation. Indian judge Sreenivasa Rao differed with four other judges saying Bangladesh should not get such a large area. After 2008, Bangladesh and India held bilateral meeting on several occasions to resolve the maritime boundary dispute. India argued that it resolved five similar problems on the basis of equidistance. For example, it solved problem with Pakistan. As such, India expressed its inability to go beyond this system in the case with Bangladesh. On the contrary, Bangladesh demanded the problem to be solved on the basis of equity. Sources concerned said Bangladesh never demanded Talpotti as its own territory either in documents or maps though in the past it was discussed as a heated political issue. In 2010 Bangladesh had shown sunken south Talpotti as its own island after amending its map but the international court did not accept it. According to past documents it has been proved that areas of south Talpotti islands have more consistency with India. In 1976 the Indian government sent a notice to British Admiralty claiming south Talpotti as their own island. Rear Admiral (Retd) Md Khurshed Alam, Maritime Affair Unit Secretary, Foreign Affairs Ministry and deputy agent for Bangladesh in the case with India, said “The maritime boundary has started from where the Radcliffe Line of 1947 ended and the line has been started straightway. Due to its straightness, 1.13 kilometres of land fell on the part of India. There is nothing over the water. Actually we have to see what the court has seen. The court has seen water there. They divided water. There is no island there.” He said, “Moreover, when the court paid an on the spot visit, we did not show Talpotti as an island. Technologically India is more advanced than Bangladesh. They tried to show the place as an island through Infrared cameras. But they could not prove it.” Md Khurshed Alam also said, “India tried to show Talpotti areas as an island and project it as base point. If the island was considered as a base point then the boundary line would have been more inside the Bangladesh territory. As a result, the demarcation line would not have gone straight. Their demand was that. The counrt did not accept their demand so there is no island by the name Talpotti.” The foreign secretary said, “Firstly it is mandatory for all to follow the guidelines of Radcliffe demarcation of 1947. We have nothing to do. Secondly, Talpotti Island is no more there and water of the area has been divided. Question may be raised in future that will the Island re-remerge again after 50 years. If it re-emerges, we will have nothing to do.” Md Khurshed Alam said, “We offered Indian government during the state-level bilateral meeting 50-50 sharing but the Indian government advised us to release total land. But now we have received 75 percent areas, it is our great achievement.” Marine law expert and Convener of the Sea Region and Wealth Protection Committee told Kaler Kontho, “Bangladesh did not go to international court with the demand of Talpotti Island. That court has no jurisdiction to resolve dispute over island. The court has a right to resolve maritime boundary dispute. The verdict received by Bangladesh is satisfactory.” He said those who are talking about Talpotti I wanted to know that are they know the geographical position of Tapotti? They cannot answer the question. There is doubt whether Talpotti is an Island.”