The gaze of the Pakistani strategic community is not merely shifting from land to the sea but expanding the vision by adding the sea to the land-dominant discourse for better policy and decision-making. The Maritime Security Engagement Workshop (MARSEW) is one of the initiatives of the Pakistan Navy. It focuses on various themes related to maritime security and the economic prosperity of Pakistan. It serves as a key component in Pakistan’s maritime national discourse, which highlights burgeoning maritime issues and challenges in a land-centric, dominated discourse and assumptions.
Seas connect the world. The economic activities, trade and commerce are mainly through seas, which enhances its significance for all state and non-state actors. There is a diversity among actors’ interests and objectives, which makes the blue entities’ environment complex and demands an informed and quick response. Pakistan maritime institutes understand the multifaceted nature of oceans and evolving threats in the maritime zones of Pakistan. Therefore, MARSEW strives to bridge the existing gaps to deal with the complexities of water bodies and their shifting dynamics. It provides deep insights to ensure maritime security and delivers practical solutions for a sustainable Blue Economy, and dismantles Silos that conventionally divide the academia, military and civil sector. That’s why it has awakened a sense of responsibility as well as ambition to claim Pakistan’s rightful place among maritime nations.
The Pakistan Navy War College has been hosting the MARSEW annually since 2017. The core of MARSEW is the Maritime Policy Formulation Exercise (MPFX), in which participants identify the existential maritime issues in the coastal areas and maritime jurisdiction of Pakistan. It proposes practical solutions to map out a safe and prosperous maritime future for Pakistan and engages the experts of each sector, including all relevant stakeholders: the government sector, senior bureaucrats, maritime industry executives, business executives, educators, intellectuals, and media representatives.
Pakistan maritime institutes understand the multifaceted nature of oceans and evolving threats in our maritime zones
Moreover, an inclusive approach including direct engagement of the landscape of the maritime frontier, analysing infrastructure capabilities, interaction with the locals and understanding of naval operations is essential for effective maritime policy. This comprehensive awareness empowers informed policy direction and facilitates meaningful comparisons and intersections on the ground.
MARSEW facilitates the timely elevation of the maritime sector to achieve the objectives of the decade 2020-2030, which is referred to as the ocean decade, by overcoming sea blindness and exposing tapped and untapped maritime resources within the maritime boundaries of Pakistan and uniting all the stakeholders on the same ground.
It serves as a platform for building a national consensus about future policy formulation. This platform carries a message for every single actor who wishes to create wide divisions and fragmentation between us. We as a nation are united and focused not only on land but also on the seas. The scope of the MARSEW Workshop extends beyond policy notes and participant feedback. The writer is a Research Associate at the Maritime Centre of Excellence at Pakistan Navy War College, Lahore.
The writer is a freelance columnist.