The Hindu : International / India & World : Joint survey of boundary pillars in Sir Creek area next month

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Dec 16, 2004

International

International - India & World

Joint survey of boundary pillars in Sir Creek area next month

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, DEC. 15. India and Pakistan have agreed to begin a joint survey of boundary pillars in the disputed Sir Creek area, a small coastal strip along the Rann of Kutch off the Gujarat coast, from January 3.

A joint statement at the end of the two-day talks at the level of defence experts said a report on the survey would then be submitted to the respective governments.

The meeting followed the understanding between the External Affairs Minister, K. Natwar Singh, and his Pakistani counterpart, Khurshid Mehmud Kasuri, in Delhi in September this year that the two sides hold technical-level discussions on the modalities for the joint survey of the boundary pillars.

The Pakistan Surveyor-General, Jamil-ur Rahman Afridi, and India's Deputy Surveyor-General, Girish Kumar, led their sides. The two sides have held eight round of talks so far. Sir Creek is among the eight contentious subjects being discussed under the Composite Dialogue process.

Bone of contention

Demarcation of boundary has been a bone of contention between India and Pakistan for several decades. It dates back to 1914, when an agreement was signed between the then government of Sindh and Rao Maharaj of Kutch. According to it, both sides agreed to a boundary line running through the middle of the creek as a border between the two states.

The final demarcation was completed in 1925 in which the boundary was shown by a "green line," depicted on the eastern side of the creek.

One side of the Creek is under Pakistan's control whereas there are naval installations of India on the other side. Pakistan claims that all the 17 creeks on the Sindh coast belong to it. India maintains that almost half of the area of Sir Creek, the 17th one, is under its control. India's contention is that the "green line" shown in the map as the boundary line is simply an indicative line, and the boundary should be defined by "mid-channel" of the creek as shown in the map of 1925.

But Pakistan rejects the Indian view on the grounds that the notion of "mid-channel" is applicable only to navigable channels while this channel is not a navigable one. India has proposed that pending formalization of the boundary in Sir Creek, the two sides could consider the delimitation of the India-Pakistan maritime boundary from seawards, by commencing at EEZ Exclusive Economic Zone limit and proceeding landwards up to a mutually acceptable limit as per provisions under technical aspects of law of sea (TALOS).

The seaward approach is based on internationally accepted principles and will benefit both countries for exploitation of resources in respective of EEZ.

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