Daily Times

KARACHI: The launching ceremony of second maritime patrol ship, BASOL, for Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA) was held at Liuzhou city, in Guanghi province of China.

This was the second ship of its class that has been launched and is three months ahead of the scheduled timeline, said a statement of Pakistan Navy (PN) on Monday.

The chief guest of the launching ceremony was Vice Admiral Khan Hasham Bin Saddique HI (M), vice chief of naval staff. The other high dignitaries from PMSA, CSTC and shipyard were also present at the occasion. The vice chief of naval staff, in his address, praised PMSA, CSTC and officials of all the stakeholders for early completion of an important project’s milestone and emphasised on continuing cooperation between Pakistan and China at all levels, including the maritime building sector.

He expressed satisfaction that the maritime sector projects being jointly undertaken by both the friendly nations have become yet another source of strength to enhance the security cooperation between two countries, which will be better for the regional interest.

He said this maritime security cooperation between Pakistan and China was not only for peace and stability of the region but even beyond.

The capability enhancement of PMSA was also now essential to secure area of Gwadar due to enhanced responsibilities with regard to CPEC, he said.

He stated that both Pakistan Navy and PMSA have already established a comprehensive mechanism for ensuring security of the Gwadar Port and surrounding sea areas adding that availability of the latest ships to PMSA will further secure the sea against all crimes including terrorism.

It is worthwhile to mention here that the Ministry of Defence Production under PSDP Programme signed a contract with CSTC of China for the construction of 4 x 600 tonnes and 2 x 1500 tonnes of maritime patrol ships in June 2015.

As per the contract, four ships are being constructed in China while remaining two ships, one of each type, are being constructed at Karachi Shipyard and Engineering Works.

The acquisition of these ships by PMSA will augment its capabilities manifold to enable it to protect Pakistan’s maritime zones and ports, harbours all along the coast.

Pakistan Navy’s Marines, PMSA vessels and personnel are presently engaged in guarding all sea port as well as escorting and providing complete protection to critical LNG supplies at Port Qasim.

An unprecedented increase in maritime activity and contemporary threats and challenges in maritime areas warrant further enhancement in capability of PN and PMSA not only to counter threats against traditional challenges but also asymmetric threats particularly those being sponsored and perpetrated by our traditional enemies, whereas Pakistan China collaboration has the potential to face the challenges and further enhance cooperation for indigenous ship construction industry.

The vice chief of the naval staff commended and acknowledged the efforts of

PMSA for enforcement of state’s writ in vast expenses of sea areas of Pakistan. The impending addition of maritime patrol ship in near future will go a long way in addressing capability gaps.

He appreciated workmanship of Chinese shipyard and PMSA’s mission team for quality and achieving the milestone three months ahead of the schedule.