Dr. Abid Bahar Ph.D.
The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea on Wednesday 14th March issued its "judgment in the Dispute concerning Delimitation of the Maritime Boundary between Bangladesh and Myanmar." The dispute concerned the delimitation of the territorial seas, exclusive economic zones and continental shelves of these two states in the Bay of Bengal.
Dipu Moni, the Bangladeshi foreign minister, told reporters.“This is a great day for Bangladesh."Hasina claims, she won a battle in the sea. Some Burmese believe ",...the International Tribunal on the Laws of the Sea (ITOLS) in Hamburg, Germany was biased. Myanmar was pariah nation at the given moment and it was a way to punish Myanmar. If the dispute was addressed today the outcome would be different." Other Burmese observers report, "Bangla may have won their disputed deep sea block 11 but Myanmar will still retain Bangla's drawn up gas-field blocks 18, 22, 23, 27 and 28.(1)
