ISLAMABAD, Dec 20: Pakistan and India are set to work out a mechanism for undertaking a fresh joint survey on Sir Creek, enabling the two countries to demarcate the maritime zone, during their two-day talks on the issue commencing on Friday.
An official said that the survey was expected to be completed by March next year. 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 the survey between November 2006 and March 2007.
The idea of conducting a joint survey and preparing for a mutually-acceptable map of Sir Creek also figured in the talks held from Nov 13 to 16.
This will be the 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 here on Thursday. The Pakistani side will be headed by Maj-Gen Jamil ur Rahman Afridi, Surveyor General of Pakistan.
The 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 Pakistan and India are signatories requires that all maritime boundary disputes be resolved by 2009 failing which the United Nations would declare them as international waters. The UN convention has also called upon the parties concerned to submit their claims by 2007 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.
India says the boundary should be in the middle of the 100km estuary while Pakistan insists the border should lie on the southeast bank.
