'Form national commission to protect maritime boundary'
The defence ministry was asked yesterday to form a “national commission” which will prepare guidelines on modernising the naval force so as to ensure the security and sovereignty of the country's new maritime boundary.
The commission will also work on preparing the country's maritime policy, setting up an “Ocean Research Institute” and other related activities.
The proposal on the commission's formation came at a meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Defence Ministry at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban.
“We have got a vast maritime area in the Bay of Bengal through a UN landmark verdict and now we need to modernise our naval force to ensure our sovereignty over the area,” M Idris Ali, chief of the House panel, told the meeting.
The commission will comprise maritime experts and high officials of the ministry, said Idris, a lawmaker of the ruling Awami League.
Bangladesh, on March 14, won a landmark verdict at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, which sustained its claim to 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic and territorial rights in the Bay of Bengal rejecting the claims of Myanmar.
The verdict of the court went absolutely in Bangladesh's favour and even beyond, as it gave more than what Bangladesh had asked for. The judgment is final and cannot be appealed against.
The committee also recommended the government to take necessary measures for the manufacture of ammunition and other equipment required by the naval force instead of importing those.
“We have several shipyards and we can upgrade those and manufacture modern gunboats and other vessels necessary for the navy,” said Idris.
Without modernising the navy, the country will not be able to ensure its right over the wealth under the vast seabed of the new maritime boundary and gather those, said the committee members.
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