Rising incidents of piracy, terror threats: Pakistan Navy's flag up in Arabian Sea to meet any challenge

In view of rising incidents of piracy, terror threats and security of sea-lanes, Pakistan Navy's flag is up in the Arabian Sea to meet any challenge. A 5-day naval exercise "Aman 11," to be participated by 39 countries is scheduled to be launched from March 8 in the open sea.
The exercise in the open sea will help Pak Navy to make assessment of its preparations to tackle challenges in the region. The relevance of the ocean was never debated and due strategic importance the development in maritime threat environment in the recent years has gripped the world community. Progressively, as countries sought to secure land borders with credible enforcements, the concept of 'freedoms of the seas' emerged as the ultimate viable media for progressing illegal activities such as drugs, arms trafficking etc.
While piracy emerged as a nuisance across the shipping convergence areas, the successful misadventures of the audacious Somalian pirates in the Gulf of Aden have literally brought the trade, transiting through Suez, to its knees. Operating from non-descript boats, these pirates took full advantage in targeting the merchant ships, comparatively easy targets, easily facilitated of defunct local government jurisdiction and control.
With the Indian Ocean continuing to remain vital interest to the world community, it isn't surprising that security issues continue to emerge in this zone. To address these threats, including local concerns, as also staking claim and recognition in the emerging global maritime order, a number of littoral nations have put forth maritime initiatives in the past few years. There were earlier attempts to put in motion initiatives to address issues in the Indian Ocean, such as the Sri Lankan effort which culminated in the institution of Indian Ocean Marine Affairs Co-operation (IOMAC) Network under the UNEP umbrella in late 1980s. In recent times a number of countries have put in place initiatives, primarily at regional ie Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka but even at global level, in form of naval engagements (bilateral as well as multilateral), seminars, and exhibitions as also establishing forums for continual deliberations.
An initiative from Pakistan set in motion the AMAN multilateral exercise by conducting the inaugural exercise in March 2007 along with a Seminar in conjunction with National Centre of Maritime Policy Research (NCMPR), Pakistan. NCMPR was established in January 07 by Bahria University to provide a platform for think tank researchers to work on maritime matters and recommend strategies and measures to develop maritime sector through dissemination of knowledge to all stakeholders. The Centre serves as a focal point for advice on maritime affairs to all relevant stakeholders including government and other organisations. The US joined seven other countries in providing personnel and assets to conduct shore-based training and discussion, as well as at-sea interoperability training. Fourteen ships from Bangladesh, China, France, Italy, Malaysia, UK and US participated in the week-long, multi-lateral naval exercise that commenced on 06 Mar 07, designed to enhance multi-lateral inter-operability with regional and extra-regional navies as they carry out Maritime Security Operations (MSO).-PR