ISLAMABAD, 30 May 2005 — Pakistani and Indian officials could not make any headway yesterday in talks on Sir Creek, a disputed coastal strip on their common border off the Gujarat and Karachi coasts. The disputed coastal strip off the coast of India’s Gujarat state is said to be rich in oil and natural gas.
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, however, said the two sides led by Pakistan’s Rear Adm. Ehsanul Haq Chaudhry and India’s Surveyor General Maj. Gen. Gopal Rao agreed to continue their discussions.
The talks would continue with the aim of “an early resolution of the issue for the mutual benefit of the two countries”, the spokesman said.
Discussions were held “in a frank and cordial atmosphere”, the statement said after the talks in the city of Rawalpindi adjoining Islamabad.
The talks on Sir Creek, one of the eight issues in the composite dialogue process between India and Pakistan, started Saturday and focused on demarcating the boundary between the two countries in the marshy inlet off the Arabian Sea.
A brief joint statement after the talks said nothing about the outcome of the talks and only noted that “the two sides agreed to continue their discussions aimed at an early resolution of the issue for the mutual benefit of the two countries”.
Pakistan and India have had several rounds of talks at both technical and governmental levels since 1969 on the issue and the last round was held in August 2004.
A Pakistani official said the Indian side had Saturday asked Pakistani officials to accept the delineation of the boundary in a stretch on land on the basis of a joint survey conducted in January.
But Pakistan said this would not be possible before a complete analysis of the survey’s findings.
While Pakistan maintains that the boundary should start with the eastern bank on the basis of the “Resolution Map” of 1914 and the green dotted line indicated in that map, India says it should run through the middle of Sir Creek.
In January, teams of the two countries conducted a joint survey of the 11-km Sir Creek area to identify boundary pillars erected in the horizontal segment of the international boundary.
The agreement on the joint survey was reached during Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmoud Kasuri’s visit to India in September 2004.
Apart from security and strategic implications and an economic angle, the boundry dispute has a human dimension. It is believed that the resolution of this dispute will bring relief to fishermen of both countries who inadvertently cross over to the other side and languish in jails for years.
The UN Convention on Laws of the Sea, to which Pakistan and India are signatories, requires that all maritime boundary disputes be resolved by 2009, failing which the world body will declare them international waters.
