EXPLAINER
With backbreaking inflation, Pakistan military spending still in 4% of its GDP.
Pakistan is today reeling under a major economic setback that is pushing millions of people from the country’s population into poverty and starvation. With no money in its coffers to even provide basic and essential items to its people, its military spending is, however, 4% of its GDP. With 45-55% of Pakistan’s tax collection coming from taxes levied on products and services imported from outside the country, there is no credible industry that is supporting the economy.
The only thriving industry that Pakistan has, is the industry of terrorists and terrorism. And while the country deals with backbreaking inflation, a depreciating currency, and precariously low foreign reserves, amidst political instability, commencing February 10, 2023, the Pakistan Navy is scheduled to host the farce of ‘Aman’ series of naval drills with a focus on policing in the maritime domain including IUU fishing, piracy and drug smuggling.
Playing by the rules is at the heart of games that most nations indulge in. In the case of Pakistan, however, it has never been so. Islamabad since its formation as an Islamic state has grappled to create a unique identity and used religion and hatred against India to keep its masses preoccupied and not question the military’s ulterior agenda proving Karl Marx’s adage that religion is the opium of the people. This article proceeds in the spirit of Karl Marx’s admonishment and its purpose is twofold.
First, it draws on how a corrupt and manipulative Navy in Pakistan is engaged in anti-national activities against its own citizens. Second, it cautions littoral nations in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) in general, and India in particular, of the dangers posed by Pakistan’s continuing support to low-intensity drug peddling activities that are not amicable to good order at sea.
Insecure and Corrupt at Home! One need not go very far from the capital Islamabad to see a live example of the corrupt practices of the Pakistan Navy. The Margalla Green Golf Club in Islamabad boasts of a sprawling 18-hole course, nestled in the picturesque Margalla Hills National Park. It occupies a pride place in the Pakistan Navy’s golfing circle and several golf tournaments are organised at this exotic location every year.
The latest event held there was the Chief of the Naval Staff Amateur Golf Championship held in September 2022. The Pakistan Navy is also embroiled in an infamous litigation case in which the Islamabad High Court (IHC) has indicted the ‘silent service’ for encroaching over 8,000 acres of protected forest land. It is therefore a well-known fact that the Pakistan Navy has demonstrated a self-serving attitude in the past and has prioritised its own profits over public accountability and interest.
While on one hand, Pakistan’s Navy is blatantly flouting the country’s laws and encroaching on government land; on the other hand illicit heroin trafficking is booming off the Makran coast using the oldest of the “global commons” – the sea.
Stumbling Block to Good Order at Sea in IOR! On 09 Jan 2023, incontrovertible evidence of the extensive organised maritime criminal activity manifesting from the Makran coast, and the reluctance of the international community to ‘call the bluff’ and openly identify
Pakistan as the driving force behind the heroin trade in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) was revealed. A Pakistan dhow was intercepted at Comoros Island, in the Southern Indian Ocean. The seafarers were probably foot soldiers of the powerful drug syndicates running organised crime networks spread across the Indian Ocean. It may be recalled that on Nov 22, US Navy’s guided-missile destroyer USS Nitzw seized an estimated $20 million worth of illegal drugs.
On December 27, 2022, the French Navy frigate Guepratte seized over four tons of drugs in the Northern Arabian sea. This is indeed a maritime security challenge for the entire region, and Pakistan and its Navy may do well to first identify and acknowledge this as a problem, and then do something to stop it. Else the grand façade of conducting ‘Aman’ will achieve nothing other than a few good photographs and a few likes over Twitter.
The trafficking of Afghan-origin heroin facilitated by Pakistan-based cartels has been openly acknowledged by experts who understand the world of organised crime. Pakistan is indeed the region’s ‘narco state.’
To sum up, neighbours are not a matter of choice. India in the near future will have to deal with whatever comes out of Pakistan. The shifting sands of global politics have already set the stage for the current decade to be focused on the Indian Ocean Region. It is probably time that Pakistan sets its house in order lest it may be reduced to a footnote in history.
Whilst the Pakistan Navy may be worth exercising with, the Naval leadership of participating nations of AMAN 23 should be concerned about the role that their host country plays not just in fomenting terrorist activities in the region but also funds it by allowing unbridled trafficking of narcotics from its coast. For India and the broader IOR littoral nations, it is time to galvanise vigil over the sea to arrest the increasing trend of maritime crime originating at the Makran coast.
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