Fujairah: "Piracy has become a major threat in the world as it endangers supply of essential food and energy sources and it can only be tackled with joint endeavours by the navies of the world," said Commodore Abdul Aleem of the Pakistan Navy.
"Even today, at least 21 ships are under hostage with pirates as the Gulf of Aden has become the most dangerous area for international shipping along with the Somali Basin," he told Gulf News after a ceremony held onboard Royal Navy Ship HMS Cornwall at Fujairah port on Monday.
At the ceremony, Pakistan Navy was given the command of Combined Task Force (CTF) 151 to conduct counter piracy operations during the next four months.
It was established in January 2009 in the wake of increasing threats from pirates in Somalia and Gulf of Aden.
Earlier, the Turkish Navy commanded the CTF 151 for the last three months.
Mission-based mandate
CTF 151 is a multi-national task force established to conduct counter-piracy operations under a mission-based mandate throughout the Combined Maritime Forces Areas of Responsibility to actively deter, disrupt and suppress piracy in order to protect global maritime security and secure freedom of navigation for the benefit of all.
It operates under the US Naval Central Command based at Bahrain and operates in Gulf of Aden, Horn of Africa and Somali Basin covering about 2 million sq km of water.
The Change of Command ceremony was attended by Deputy Commander of Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) Commodore Tim Fraser, Vural Altay, Ambassador of Turkey; Jamil Ahmad Khan, Ambassador of Pakistan; Tarek Iqbal Somoro, Pakistan Consul General; Rear Admiral Shafuqat Javed from Pakistani Navy and many other navy officers from CMF.
"Our mandate is to conduct counter-piracy operations, joined by many nations in the world. I will have at least eight ships under my command in the task force," said Commodore Aleem.
Earlier, speaking at the ceremony, he noted: "Navies of the world can do only part of the counter piracy operations, but the wholesome solution is the collective efforts of all those linked to the maritime security especially the maritime sector of the shipping community."
"They will have to adhere to the best management practice to effectively tackle the piracy issue," he said.
"We are totally committed to play our role in maintaining stability and secure environment for uninterrupted flow of vital energy supplies to the world while safeguarding maritime interests of Pakistan," he said.
Rear Admiral Sinan Ertugrul, from the Turkish Navy, said the counter-piracy force is playing an important role as the world economy is largely dependent on sea trade and piracy has the potential of affecting every man, woman and child on the planet.
The task force included ships from Australia, Republic of Korea, Pakistan, Singapore, Turkey, the US and has integrated both a British task group and for the first time a task group from Thailand.
He said that there has been 118 per cent rise in counter-piracy efforts throughout the area of operation compared to last year. However, piracy has increased by three per cent.
To those who seek to commit the crime of piracy, he said: "You have at times shown yourselves to be resourceful and flexible, modifying your behaviour as we frustrate your tactics. However, you should know this, we too can adapt and we are here to stay as long as is necessary to meet our commitment to keep the sea lines of communication open."
