Pakistan urges UNSC to protect oceans

Underscoring that oceans must remain zones of peace, Pakistan has drawn UN Security Council's attention to the unchecked naval build-ups, militarization of strategic waters and pursuit of regional influence "through muscle-flexing", as the 15-member body debated maritime security on Monday.

"Attempts to dominate maritime spaces or marginalize coastal States must be rejected; they are counterproductive", Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, permanent representative of Pakistan, said in the high-level debate convened by Panama, which holds the Council's presidency for the month of August.

"In some quarters," he added, "the seas are seen not as a shared domain, but as a stage for asserting primacy."

Although the Pakistani envoy did not name any country, his comments about naval build-ups and attempts to dominate waterways were seen here as mainly directed at India.

"The oceans connect us all," Ambassador Asim Iftikhar told delegates. "As a coastal State at the confluence of major sea lanes in the northern Arabian Sea, Pakistan accords the highest importance to a secure, rules-based maritime domain—critical to our national security, economic resilience, regional connectivity, and food and energy security."