St Martin's Island: Why This Tiny Island In Bangladesh Is Under Spotlight After Sheikh Hasina's Ouster

Saint Martin Island is famous for its stunning natural beauty, including clear blue waters and diverse marine life like corals. It is also Bangladesh's sole coral island.

A tiny island in the northeastern part of the Bay of Bengal has emerged as the point of focus following the collapse of Sheikh Hasina's government in Bangladesh.  

A video recording of former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is being circulated in which she can be heard accusing the US of ousting her from power for not surrendering the sovereignty of Saint Martin Island in the Bay of Bengal to the US.

"I could have remained in power if I had left St. Martin and the Bay of Bengal to America," Sheikh Hasina purportedly said in the viral message, the authenticity of which couldn't be independently verified by ABP LIVE.

However, this is not the first time that Hasina claimed that she could stay in power by allowing Bangladesh to give up St Martin's Island to the US. Ahead of the January elections in Bangladesh, the former PM said that "a white man" had offered her a smooth return to power in exchange for an airbase.

Here is all you need to know about St Martin’s Island:

- Saint Martin's Island, also known as Narikel Jinjira (due to the abundance of coconut trees) or Daruchini Dwip, is a small island in the northeastern part of the Bay of Bengal.

- The island, 3 km square in area, is located about 9 km south of the tip of the Cox's Bazar-Tankaf peninsula.

- The island is famous for its stunning natural beauty, including clear blue waters and diverse marine life like corals. It is also Bangladesh's sole coral island.

- The island also holds significance as having a military base at the island would mean strategic presence over the Strait of Malacca, which the Chinese use majorly for their transportation, according to a report in The Print.

- The island could be used for surveillance activities, focussed on the neighbouring countries including China, Myanmar or even India.

-  The 3,700 residents of the island engage in fishing, rice cultivation, coconut farming and seaweed harvesting, which is dried and exported to Myanmar. 

-  The island remained a part of British India after Myanmar was separated in 1937. However, after partition in 1947, it went into Pakistan's control. But after Bangladesh's Liberation War in 1971, it became a part of Bangladesh.

- However, Myanmar has contested its sovereign claims over the island due to the dispute over the delimitation of its maritime boundary with Bangladesh. In 2018, Myanmar included Saint Martin’s Island on its official map. 

- The rumours of the US wanting control over the tiny island have been for several years now with the US officially denying any such plans. In 2003, Mary Ann Peters, the then US envoy to Bangladesh, said that her country “has no plans, no requirement, and no desire for a military base on St. Martin’s Island, Chittagong, or anywhere else in Bangladesh”.