Safe waters: Pak EEZ no more high risk area of piracy

KARACHI: The Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) or the extended maritime border of Pakistan consisting of 290,000 square kilometres of seabed extending 350 nautical miles southwards, has been declared almost safe from the risk of pirates preying on vessels off Somalia’s coast. According to a press release of Pakistan Navy, the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia (CGPCS) has announced new revised limits of the piracy High Risk Area (HRA) which will be effective from December 01. The revised limits put almost the entire EEZ out of HRA, the press release said. The declaration will eliminate the extra insurance and security charges shippers from the Gulf and Far East were paying since 2010. Pakistan Navy, in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, had made concerted efforts to exclude EEZ from HRA, based on argument that no incidents of piracy had occurred in EEZ due to Pakistan Navy’s vigilance that has commanded counter piracy Task Force - CTF 151 – six times.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 11^th, 2015.