Myanmar drops Saint Martin’s Island claim after Bangladesh’s protests

Myanmar authorities have removed Saint Martin’s island from one of the country’s maps on its websites following protests by Bangladesh.

Staff Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 7 Oct 2018, 05:01 PM
Updated : 7 Oct 2018, 05:07 PM

A member of a parliamentary standing committee on the foreign ministry informed the media about the development after a meeting on Sunday.

On Saturday, the ministry summoned Myanmar Ambassador Lwin Oo to protest what officials call was Naypyidaw’s ‘misrepresentation’ of Bangladesh on its map.

Myanmar updated its map on the official website of the Department of Population, dop.gov.mm, and another website, themimu.info, in a way that showed the Saint Martin’s Island is part of its territory.

They used similar colour for both Myanmar and the Saint Martin’s Island. The Bangladesh territories were projected in black.

Clicking the Saint Martin’s Island, one could get the detailed information about the population of that area which was also similar to Myanmar. Nothing was shown on the Bangladesh map.

The parliamentary committee member, Muhammad Faruk Khan MP, said, “Myanmar has removed the information that showed Saint Martin’s as part of its own territory following our protests.”

The committee asked the ministry to take steps to monitor if such information was published on any other website, he said.

It also recommended measures to be alert all times to tackle negative propaganda against Bangladesh, the MP said.

“The committee discussed different sorts of anti-government propaganda conducted by our political rivals in different countries. The ministry gave us some information as to where and how the propaganda is being conducted. The committee has asked the ministry to take steps against and be alert to such evil propaganda,” Faruk said. 

Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam, committee members Salim Uddin MP and Mahjabeen Khaled MP also attended the meeting chaired by its chief Dipu Moni.

The Saint Martin’s Island has been part of British India when Myanmar was divided in 1937. After the India-Pakistan partition, it was with the then East Pakistan. Since independence it has been a popular tourist haunt of Bangladesh. The first maritime boundary agreement with Myanmar in 1974 and even after the UN court’s verdict on the maritime dispute between the countries, the Saint Martin’s Island has always been a part of Bangladesh.