PNS Khaibar in Qatar's Exercise 'Ferocious Falcon 3'

[Safriz]

By AZMAT HAROON DOHA: Somali sea pirates are not only fierce, they are quite shrewd as
well as they ‘reinvest’ their ill-gotten ‘earnings’ from piracy in high-
tech equipment to further their sinister operations, says a senior
Pakistani naval officer. With the ransoms they get from their victims they buy better GPS
(global positioning systems) equipment and modern weapons, said
Commodore Zafar Mansoor Tipu. Merchant navy ships moving in the seas that the Somali pirates have
sway over are literally defenceless against them because as per
international maritime rules, they cannot carry weapons or firearms
even for self-defence, according to Tipu. He, however, noted that with the presence of taskforce 151 and other
countries operating there independently, there has been a reduction in
the piracy attacks. Tipu was speaking at a press briefing at Pakistan Naval Ship (PNS)
‘Khaibar’, which is in Qatar to participate in the multinational
“Ferocious Falcon 3” fleet exercises conducted by the Qatar Armed
Forces (QAF). The exercises essentially deal with crisis management and the broader
project includes participation from Qtel, Hamad Medical Corporation
(HMC), Ministry of Interior among other organisations here. PNS Khaibar, however, will take part in the maritime part of the
exercise. “This includes tactics to protect oil platforms, LNG carriers, and
then, ways to protect the tankers from pirates or hijackers,” Captain
Muhammad Faisal Abbasi, Commanding Officer of PNS Khaiber, said. The 269-crew ship is a type 21 destroyer, which is fitted with weapon
systems such as the surface-to-air missiles, anti-submarine torpedoes,
and modern sensors, including long range air search radars, surface
radars and sonar for submarines. Talking of the Arabian Sea, Tipu said it and especially territories around
the Gulf countries face major risks from sea pirates and terrorists. “Cargo worth tens of millions of dollars move from this area in vessels
and apart from human and economic risks, there are other factors as
well such as terrorism,” Commodore Tipu said. This includes smuggling of weapons and people and illicit trade
through the North Arabian Sea. The Pakistani Navy has many years of experience of anti-piracy and
anti-terrorism operations at sea, the naval officer said. In order to safeguard the movement of vessels at sea, international
taskforces have also been established. One of them is Combined Task
Force 150 (CTF-150), which is a 25-nation coalition based in Bahrain. It
monitors and stops suspect ships to pursue potential terrorists as part
of the Maritime Security Operations (MSO). CTF-151, meanwhile, deals
with shipping lanes off the coast of Somalia. Pakistani Navy recently handed control of CTF-150 to Britain and will
resume command of CTF-151 from December. “This has projected the true strength of the Pakistani Navy because it
shows we have the capability to command international taskforces, as
we have taken charge of actual war ships and its operations,” Captain
Abbasi said. Pakistan also sends a number of officers on deputation to Saudi Arabia,
Oman, UAE and Bahrain, apart from Qatar. There are a number of Pakistanis currently serving in the Qatar Navy,
Armed Forces and the Emiri Guard both on deputation and contractual
basis, said Tipu, who is also the Defence Attaché of the Pakistan
Embassy here. Pakistan-Qatar defence relations further strengthened
after the 2010 defence agreement, he added. The Peninsula