Staff Reporter
Islamabad
A roundtable conference was held on ‘Preserving Freedom of Seas: Post-Pulwama Challenges and Responses’ at Maritime Study Forum, Islamabad. The guests and participants in the session included prominent scholars from academia, media persons and policy makers. The conference was held to remember the detection of the Indian submarine in Pakistani waters by Pakistan Navy’s air arm and to discuss maritime security of Pakistan and future challenges.
MSF President Dr. Syed Mohammed Anwer remarked that despite the fact that the detection of the Indian submarine on March 04, 2019 was equal in importance to the downing of Indian jets on February 27, 2019, it was not given due prominence on media. The roundtable reached consensus on points that there is a need to bring maritime into the discourse of academia, media and policy makers. With regards to Pulwama and post-Pulwama security scenario, the audience agreed that Pakistan Navy remained vigilant during the crisis and successfully accomplished their objective of sea denial to India.
Pakistan’s naval strategic command is effective and has the ability to deter Indian nuclear aggression. However Pakistan Navy needs to consider whether the current manpower and firepower is enough on conventional level to counter any escalation from India. It was also felt that the academia and policymakers also have to consider how the declaration of 2020 as the year of Blue Economy can be used to project and benefit maritime security sector.
