Navy patrol sent as Myanmar enters disputed waters

Bangladesh has rushed a naval patrol to the disputed waters of the Bay of Bengal where Myanmar has begun oil and gas exploration activities, foreign ministry officials have said.

“We have lodged a strong protest with the government of Myanmar for entry of its vessels into territorial waters of Bangladesh,” foreign adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury told bdnews24.com Sunday.

“We summoned the Myanmar ambassador in Dhaka to hand over the protest letter,” he said at his foreign ministry office.

Foreign secretary Md Touhid Hossain told bdnews24.com: “There may be this sort of incident between neighbours. We want that the dispute can be resolved through dialogue as Bangladesh has very good relations with Myanmar.”

Foreign ministry officials say Myanmar sent vessels and exploration equipment along with engineers within the past few days ago to carry out the exploration works, some 60 nautical miles off Saint Martin’s Island.

One official, not wanting to be named, said the Bangladesh Navy had reached the spot and “seen off the Myanmar vessels” late Saturday, but the vessels had returned on Sunday morning.

The area is claimed by both Bangladesh and Myanmar. But Myanmar has awarded a contract of exploration work to a South Korean company, ministry officials confirmed to bdnews24.com.

Bangladesh and Myanmar have been holding on-off talks for years to demarcate their borders in the Bay of Bengal, considered rich in gas reserves.

The foreign ministry has strongly protested the Myanmar action and urged Yangon to remove its vessels and all structures and equipment from the site until the sea border dispute is resolved.

The foreign secretary on Sunday summoned the Myanmar ambassador to Dhaka and handed over the protest letter.

“We have told the ambassador that his government will have to remove all structures and take their vessels back to their waters until the dispute is resolved,” Touhid Hossain told bdnews24.com.

He said the exploration site is in a disputed area claimed by Bangladesh and Myanmar.

Additional foreign secretary MAK Mahmood, who led the Bangladesh-Myanmar maritime delimitation talks in Dhaka earlier this year, told bdnews24.com that Bangladesh would also press the South Koreas company not to conduct the exploration work in the disputed area.

“We are trying to find out the nationalities of the workers involved in the exploration works,” he added.

He said Dhaka would also urge the governments of those workers to ward off their nationals from working in the disputed territory.

Bangladesh and Myanmar signed an agreement last month to force their hands to resolve outstanding issues including a row over Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.

Source: Bdnews24