Sir Creek solution soon

Pakistan and India are most likely to resolve the longstanding dispute over Sir Creek, a marshland that separates the nuclear neighbours on the Arabian Sea, by the end of 2008. Islamabad is attaching great significance to the forthcoming Indo-Pak talks on the contentious issue on December 2-3.Sir Creek is one of eight major issues on the agenda devised by the two nations for the peace process that they launched in 2004. The other issues include Jammu and Kashmir, peace and security, Siachen, Wullar Barrage and trade and economic relations.
The row between Islamabad and India over Sir Creek, the 99-km stretch of marsh that lies partly in Pakistan’s Sindh province and partly in India’s Gujarat, dates back to 1947, when India and Pakistan became independent. However, the officials in Islamabad are optimistic about resolution of Sir Creek before 2008 ends.
One reason for the optimism and hectic behind-the-scenes efforts and endeavours through formal diplomatic channels by the two sides is the 2009 deadline given by the UN Convention on Law of the Sea to which both India and Pakistan are signatories. “The convention requires that all maritime boundary conflicts should be resolved by 2009, failing which the UN may declare disputed areas as international waters,” said a senior foreign office official.The determination of the boundaries in marshland, however, would in turn allow Pakistan and India to notify the limits of their maritime economic zones as demanded by the UN Convention, he added. He said that the two sides were expecting a breakthrough after the December talks on Sir Creek because they had been able to remove most of their differences over the thorny dispute, such as those related to the joint survey of Creek.