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India, Pakistan Launch Joint Survey on Maritime Boundaries

2007-01-15 Pakistan and Indian officials on Monday launched a joint survey to determine their marshlands' boundary, reports said. The Sir Creek is a 96-km (60 mile) strip of water disputed between India and Pakistan in the Rann of Kutch marshlands.


The creek, which opens up into the Arabian Sea, divides the Kutch region of the Indian state of Gujarat with the Sindh province of Pakistan. Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukerjee confirmed on Saturday officials concerned have been directed to expedite their work.

The two countries have held several rounds of talks over the issue, which has been one of the eight major issues of their composite dialogue process. Much of the land is either marsh or desert that neither side sees as being militarily important. It is also sparsely populated.

But this inhospitable terrain -- famous on the Indian side for its high quantities of salt -- was the scene of heavy fighting between India and Pakistan in 1965. India says the boundary should be in the middle of the 100-km (60-mile) estuary.

Pakistan says the border should lie on the southeast bank.

The disputed region was at the center of international attention in 1999 after Mig-21 fighter planes of the Indian Air Force shot down a Pakistani Navy Breguet Atlantique surveillance aircraft over the Sir Creek on August 10, 1999, killing all 16 on board.

India claimed that the plane had strayed into its airspace, which was disputed by the Pakistan Navy. Although the creek has little military value, it holds immense economic gain.

Much of the region is rich in oil and gas below the seabed, and control over the creek would have a huge bearing on the energy potential of each nation. Also, once the boundaries are defined, it would help in the determination of maritime boundaries which are drawn as an extension of onshore reference points.

Maritime boundaries also help in determining the limits of exclusive economic zones (EEZs) and continental shelves. EEZs extend to 200 nautical miles (370 km) and can be subjected to commercial exploitation.

The demarcation would also prevent the inadvertent crossing over of fishermen of both nations into each others' territories.

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