Pakistan: Joint efforts sought to fight sea piracy

Speaking at the concluding ceremony of the Fourth International Maritime Conference at the Bahria University (Pakistan) on Wednesday, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Noman Bashir underlined the requirement for joint and concerted efforts from all quarters to combat maritime piracy as well as human and drug smuggling.

The Naval Chief said that piracy, terrorism, human, and drug smuggling had been on the rise at sea.

The ceremony was organised on the sidelines of the multinational naval exercise Aman-2011 which is being conducted under the aegis of the Pakistan Navy.

Admiral Noman Bashir stated that during the last year, incidents of piracy had increased dramatically, especially off the coast of Somalia where a well-organised groups are involved in a series of maritime-related illegal activities.

According to Admiral Bashir the multinational naval exercise, AMAN, was a further step towards forging a global maritime alliance of navies to combat the menace of sea-borne problems.

In addition to foreign naval delegates, and senior Pakistan Navy officers, the ceremony was attended by several experts on maritime issues coming both from Pakistan and abroad.

-——-

Mark Lowe, Thursday 10 March 2011