13 things about St. Martin’s Island that Sheikh Hasina says the US wanted to cede – Firstpost

Just days after she resigned from her post as prime minister and fled Bangladesh, former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina accused the US of forcing her out of office. One of the allegations Hasina made against Washington involved a tiny island called St. Martin. The Bangladeshi politician, who is currently living in a safe house in India, accused the US of forcing her out of office because she refused to hand over the island.

Although St. Martin’s Island is a small piece of land, it still has geographical significance. The island is said to provide “dominion over the Bay of Bengal.”

On Sunday, Bangladesh’s prime minister released an undelivered speech she was planning to give before she was forced to resign. In the statement, which The Economic times, The 79-year-old Awami League leader claimed she could have remained in power if she had given up Bangladesh’s sovereignty over the island.

“I could have stayed in power if I had left St. Martin and the Bay of Bengal to America,” she said in a message to her supporters in the Awami League. It is important to note that Hasina resigned and fled Dhaka after nationwide protests against a controversial quota system proposed by her government.

Within a few weeks, the protests against the quota system eventually turned into a protest against the government and Hasina. After Hasina left the country, Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus took over as chief adviser to the interim government of Bangladesh.

So let’s see what makes St. Martin’s Island such an attractive piece of land in the Bay of Bengal.

13 things you should know about St. Martin’s Island

• St. Martin’s Island, also called Narikel Jinjira (Coconut Island) or Daruchini Dwip (Cinnamon Island), is Bangladesh’s only coral reef island. The island is extremely small, with an area of ​​only 3 km², and is located in the northeastern part of the Bay of Bengal. It is located about 9 km south of the tip of the Cox’s Bazar-Tankaf peninsula.

• The island was first settled by Arab merchants in the 18th century and was called “Jazira” during their occupation. When the British colonized the island, it was named after the then Deputy Commissioner of Chittagong.

• The island is home to 3,700 inhabitants, who are mainly engaged in fishing, rice cultivation, coconut cultivation and seaweed harvesting. The products are dried and exported to Myanmar, which makes the island attractive not only for tourism but also for trade.

• What about the US involvement in the island? In the letter, Hasina claimed that Washington had its eye on the island to set up an air base and gain a strategic position over the Bay of Bengal.

• Such claims have been made in the past. Khaleda Zia’s BNP was accused of planning to sell the island to the USA. The White House has, however, repeatedly denied these claims. In 2003, the then US envoy to Bangladesh, Mary Ann Peters, stated that her country had “no plans, no need and no desire for a military base on St. Martin’s Island, in Chittagong or anywhere else in Bangladesh”. She stressed that the USA was only interested in strategic military relations in Dhaka.

• The island offers a strong strategic advantage. If a country were to build a military base on St. Martin, for example, it would automatically be present near the Strait of Malacca, which China uses primarily for its transport.

• The island could also be a country that not only monitors the activities of China and Myanmar, but also keeps an eye on the activities of India.

• As China asserts its dominance in several areas of the Indo-Pacific region, the island provides a strong base to counter Beijing’s presence.

• Interestingly, Bangladesh also shares a border with Myanmar, which lays claim to the island. One has to go back in history to see where the conflict began. In 1937, the island remained a part of British India after Myanmar was separated from it.

• India remained part of British India until the partition of India in 1947. After that, Pakistan took control of the island. After the Bangladesh War in 1971, control of the island passed to Dhaka.

• In 1974, Bangladesh and Myanmar agreed that the coral island would be part of Bangladeshi territory. Daily Star reported.

• However, there have been diplomatic disputes over the issue in recent years. In 2018, Myanmar attracted attention when it included St. Martin Island on its official map. The map was eventually deleted, with the State Department calling it a “mistake.” The Rohingya also use the island to flee Myanmar and reach Bangladesh.

• However, Myanmar’s new military junta has been accused of sending ships to the area, forcing the Bangladesh Navy to deploy its own ships near the island. It is important to note that the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) recognizes St. Martin’s Island as part of Bangladesh.

While Hasina’s comments caused an uproar around the world, the United States has so far not commented on the matter.