ISLAMABAD: Pak­istan Navy has carried out multiple rescue missions over the past several months, rescuing at least 18 people from different countries as well as delivering relief goods to those in distress.

On May 9, while on a routine maritime security patrol in the North Arabian Sea, PNS Yarmook heard a distress call from a vessel. When Yarmook reached the scene of the incident, an Iranian fishing boat with nine crew on-board was found engulfed in flames. Yarmook extinguished the fire and brought the crew to safety.

In a similar operation in February, nine Indian seamen aboard a stranded ocean tug at 167 nautical miles southeast of Karachi, were rescued.

The navy was also one of the first in the region to reach Mersin, Turkiye, and Latakia, Syria, to assist the victims of devastating earthquakes in March 2023. PN ships Moawin and Nasr carried massive relief goods within days of receiving instructions from the government.

From 2019 to 2022, Pakistan Navy undertook three distinct missions to Africa, with an objective to deliver relief goods to various African nations suffering from famine and natural disasters.

PN ships Moawin, Nasr and Alamgir were tasked with sailing from the Suez Canal to go around Africa and assist the African people in whatever way possible. PNS Nasr, in particular, carried well over 1,000 tonnes of food items to Benin and Niger in 2020 when they faced a severe shortage of basic essentials to sustain human life.

Domestically, Pakistan Navy and Pakistan Mari­time Security Agency work through a joint collaborative mechanism that seeks to keeping the North Arabian Sea crime-free. On several occasions, drug smugglers, human traffickers and poachers have been captured or their attempts thwarted, thereby preserving good order at sea.

The writer is an Islamabad-based researcher

Published in Dawn, September 7th, 2024