ISLAMABAD: Chairman of the Senate Committee on Defence Mushahid Hussain Syed said on Sunday that the Pakistan Navy had a pivotal role to play in the present geopolitical scenario. He termed the Gwadar Port central to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

Talking to media personnel here after a recent visit of members of the committee to naval installations in Karachi, Gwadar and Ormara, the senator praised navy’s proactive role, readiness and activities in promoting socio-economic and educational development in the coastal areas of Balochistan which, he said, were promoting national integration.

During the visit, he said, members of the committee received briefings from senior naval officers, including Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Zakaullah.

He termed Admiral Zakaullah a “top-notch professional”.

The senator said that in the emerging regional scenario the focus would be on protecting sea lanes with greater competition, especially among the US, China, Japan and India, revolving around their respective navies. He said Pakistan too would play a strategic role since Gwadar Port was pivotal for the CPEC and because the country was part of the Maritime Silk Road as well as the Silk Road land corridor.

He said he would present the report of the committee on the recent visit in the Senate on Monday so that the upper house of parliament could discuss it in the context of the increasingly important role of the Pakistan Navy.

Mr Syed proposed that the government should prepare a ‘national maritime security plan’ given the emerging regional scenario and the role of Pakistan Navy and establish a new shipyard in Gwadar to supplement the one in Karachi.

He said the government should also prepare a strategy on how best to convert the 50,000 square kilometres of continental shelf that Pakistan had gained, for its economic and security benefit, because, according to him, such a large continental shelf can have the potential of being transformed into the “fifth province” of Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, May 16th, 2016