The foreign ministry has summoned Myanmar’s envoy to protest what officials said Naypyidaw’s attempt to show Bangladesh’s maritime territory as part of its territory.
Acting Ambassador Aung Kyaw met Md Delwar Hossain, director general of the foreign office’s South East Asia wing, on Thursday.
A note verbale was handed over to the Myanmar diplomat during the meeting.
Speaking to media after the meeting, South East Asia wing chief Hossain said Myanmar did a similar thing in October last year, which it had corrected after Bangladesh protested, but once again did the same thing.
“We summoned the envoy, who said it was a mistake. The Myanmar acting ambassador contacted Naypyidaw from my office and assured us it would be corrected by Friday,” said Hossain.
On Oct 6 last year, 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 shows that the Saint Martin’s Island is part of its territory.
They used similar colour for both Myanmar and the Saint Martin’s Island.
Clicking the Saint Martin’s Island, one can get the detailed information about the population of that area which is also similar to Myanmar. Nothing can be seen on the Bangladesh map.
Foreign ministry officials said the same thing happened on Thursday, when Myanamr update its map on another government website.
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. Then after independence it was with 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 was always part of Bangladesh.