New Delhi, December 20, 2005, Rajeev Sharma (Tribune News Service)

India and Pakistan today made steady progress on resolving their bilateral dispute on Sir Creek and are all set to announce tomorrow the terms of reference and modalities of conducting the first-ever joint survey of the 96-km-long long estuary in the salty marshlands of the Rann of Kutch between Gujarat (India) and Sind (Pakistan), well placed sources told The Tribune.

This will be the first time since the bilateral dispute erupted between the two sides on Sir Creek four decades ago that India and Pakistan would agree on specific dates and modalities to conduct a joint survey of Sir Creek. The issue has enormous strategic and economic implications. Pakistan has made settlement of the land boundary in Sir Creek a prerequisite for delimitation of the International Maritime Boundary between the two countries. Moreover, both sides stand to gain as they would increase their Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) substantially by resolving the Sir Creek dispute.

The major step forward on Sir Creek came during the first day today of the two-day technical-level talks between India and Pakistan on the subject. The Indian side was led by Brigadier Girish Kumar, Deputy Surveyor-General, while the Pakistani side was led by Major-General Jameel ur-Rehman Afridi, Surveyor-General.

Resolution of the Sir Creek dispute would pave the way for settling the maritime dispute between India and Pakistan. India has already settled its maritime boundary with Myanmar and Bangladesh. The resolution of the dispute would also mean a huge respite to fishermen of both countries who inadvertently cross over to the other side and rot in jails for years.