Bangladesh-India maritime dispute in Hague court

New Delhi: India is presenting its arguments before the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in the Hague, Netherlands, in a case of maritime dispute with Bangladesh in the Bay of Bengal. Attorney General GE Vahanvati is leading the Indian delegation. The oral hearings are being held Dec 9-18 on the issue of delimitation of maritime boundary between India and Bangladesh. On Oct 8, 2009, Bangladesh instituted arbitral proceedings concerning the delimitation of the maritime boundary between it and India under the United Nations Convention on Law of Sea (UNCLOS).

Bangladesh had filed an arbitration case with Myanmar over their maritime boundary in the Bay of Bengal at International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) in Hamburg, which issued an award in March 2012 favouring Bangladesh. The arbitral tribunal members are Prof Rüdiger Wolfrum (president), Judge Thomas A Mensah, Pemmaraju Sreenivasa Rao, Prof Ivan Shearer, and Judge Jean-Pierre Cot. Bangladesh Foreign Minister AH Mahmud Ali, former foreign minister Dipu Moni and Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque are part of the Bangladesh team. The arbitration court is expected to deliver its judgment next year.