Law to check piracy at sea soon: Gilani

KARACHI:

The government will soon enact a law to check the growing incidence of piracy at sea in the region, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said on Saturday.

“The ministries of defence, law and foreign affairs have been asked to move a summary in this regard to the cabinet for approval and later (submit the same) to parliament,” he said on Saturday on board PNS Nasr  while addressing the concluding ceremony of multi-national naval exercises organised by Pakistan Navy.

The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Noman Bashir, Air Chief Rao Qamar Suleman, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Khalid Mehmood Wynne, Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah and foreign dignitaries, including diplomats, also attended the ceremony.

The prime minister said that many nations had no legislation to fight the menace of sea piracy which needed to be tackled through joint efforts of navies of all countries.

He said the world today recognises the importance of Pakistan Navy and they have the confidence about the role that Pakistan could play to tackle the problem expanding its wings from Somali coast to other seas of the world.

Exercise Aman 11 was conducted in the northern Arabian Sea from 8-12 March. Navies of 47 countries were invited to participate. This is the third exercise in the series.

The first Aman exercise (Aman-7) was held in March 2007 in which 14 naval ships of Bangladesh, China, France, Italy, Malaysia, the UK and the US participated. Teams from Bangladesh and Turkey also participated in the exercises and representatives from 21 countries attended the exercise as observers.

The second exercise in the series (Aman-9) was held in March 2009, during which 23 ships, 13 aircraft from Australia, Bangladesh, China, France, Japan, Malaysia, the UK and Nigeria, Turkey and the US participated. Observers from 27 countries also attended the exercise.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 13^th, 2011.