As the countdown to the National Elections commenced, we came across a number of E-mails and SMSs, advising everyone to cast their votes as soon as the polling begins. When we got to our polling stations early in the morning, the realization suddenly sank in that a whole lot of people had access to the same advice. Anyway, since polling hadn’t started a good forty…
Indigenous Destroyer Construction – A Giant Technological Leap
PNS ASLAT, a F22P class destroyer, is expected to be commissioned this month (April 2013). What makes this event significant is that it would be the first destroyer to have been constructed in Pakistani yards, no mean achievement in itself. The first three vessels of the same class, namely PNS ZULFIQUAR, SHAMSHEER and SAIF, had been constructed in China by the Hudong Zhonghua Shipyard.
The Way Forward towards a Well-integrated Indian Ocean Community
Introduction The Indian Ocean can arguably be called the cradle of civilization. Connections established through its medium predate even the Viking forays by over 4000 years. The Indian Ocean region, from 5000 BC till the dawn of the 16th century, presented a scene of great trading activity, both coastal and trans-oceanic. Though the land powers were constantly at war with each other, they left the…
A Brief Historical Survey of the Indian Ocean Region
Introduction The Indian Ocean region since antiquity has been a melting pot of civilizations and cultures which have continually intermingled through trade. Connections established through it’s medium predate even the Viking forays into the northern part of the American continent by over 4000 years. Contrary to general belief, the history of the Indian Ocean region certainly did not begin in 1498, when the Portuguese explorer…
Mesmerising Maldives
Maldives is a country like no other. A brief stay there convinced me of that. I had come here to attend a maritime conference, with my wife accompanying me as a tourist. Soon after our arrival at the Male international airport in the dead of night, we were whisked away to the nearby Hulhule Hotel. When awakened by the sunlight trickling in through the expansive…
Dominant Naval Presence in the Indian Ocean
Introduction The Indian Ocean region had been renowned since antiquity for its free trade and fair practices. This is where all the great civilizations of India, Egypt, Greece, Rome, Persia, Melaka, Bengal and China met, as partners rather than as adversaries. Contrary to the general belief, the history of the Indian Ocean region certainly did not begin in 1498 when the Portuguese adventurer Vasco de…
Terrorism and other Maritime Threats in the Indian Ocean Region
Introduction. Terrorism poses the gravest of threats to the global community, let alone the Indian Ocean region. Its poster child for a long time in the nineteen sixties and seventies was the Palestine Liberation Organization, which had been forced to resort to such measures to highlight a cause that the world was turning its back on. The first well-publicized case of maritime terrorism was possibly…
IMO: One Hundred Years after the Titanic
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has since long explicitly recognized shipping to be “perhaps the most international of all the world’s great industries and one of the most dangerous”. Ever since the advent of steamships around the middle of the nineteenth century, safety at sea has always been a prime concern. It is no wonder then that the IMO has decided to highlight this aspect…
Seafearing Vibes 6
My stay on board PNS TIPPU SULTAN as it’s Executive Officer was a fairly tumultuous one, due, in no small part, to the fact that the ship was serving at the time as the flagship of the Commander 25th Destroyer Squadron (COMDESRON-25). Anyway, COMDESRON-25, who was also the Commanding Officer at the time, once decided to invite all the specialists at PNS SHIFA to lunch…
Seafearing Vibes 5 (Mean Times In Greenwich)
A military staff course is quite an experience in itself. Undergoing it at the Royal Naval Staff College at Greenwich is transcendental: the place is steeped in history. The world remembers Greenwich for its mean time, it’s prime meridian and it’s royal observatory. It’s maritime credentials are bolstered by the presence of the Cutty Sark (and now the Gypsy Moth IV also) next to the…
