Pakistan, India to work out mechanism for joint Sir Creek survey

India and Pakistan are set to work out a mechanism for undertaking a fresh joint survey on Sir Creek, enabling both the countries to demarcate the maritime zone, during their two-day talks on the issue commencing in Islamabad on Friday.

The survey was expected to be completed by March, 2007, Dawn newspaper quoted an official as saying. He pointed out that the two sides during their talks on Sir Creek in New Delhi, in May, had agreed on the plan to conduct survey between November 2006 and March 2007.

This will be second survey to be undertaken by the two countries in the history of the 22-year-old dispute over a 60-mile-long strip of water between the Rann of Kutch in India and Sindh in Pakistan.

The first joint survey on Sir Creek had been conducted by hydrographers of the two countries in January 2005.

An Indian defence delegation, led by Rear Admiral B R Rao, Chief Naval Hydrographer, is due to arrive in Islamabad on Thursday. The Pakistani side will be headed by Surveyor General of Pakistan Jamil ur Rahman Afridi.

Sir Creek dispute is one of the eight subjects being discussed under the composite dialogue process and is considered a relatively less complicated issue. Pakistan and India have had several rounds of talks at both technical and governmental levels since 1969 on the Sir Creek issue.

The UN Convention on Law of the Sea to which both Islamabad and New Delhi are signatories requires that all maritime boundary disputes be resolved by 2009 failing which the United Nations would declare them international waters.

The UN convention has also called upon the parties concerned to submit their claims by next year so that by 2009 these claims could be settled.

The demarcation of boundary has been a bone of contention between India and Pakistan for several decades. Various rounds of talks held so far have not helped resolve the differences.

The history of the issue dates back to 1914 when an agreement was signed between the then government of Sindh and Rao Maharaj of Kutch. According to the agreement, both the 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, the paper reported.

India says the boundary should be in the middle of the 100 km estuary while Pakistan insists the border should lie on the southeast bank.