- Exercise aimed at ensuring defence of maritime infrastructure.
- PN fleet units, marines, SSG and naval aviation partake in exercise.
- Rear Admiral Faisal Amin witnesses live-action simulations.
The Pakistan Navy conducted a two-day exercise focusing on countering sub-conventional and asymmetric threats across all major ports and harbours, according to a statement issued by the Pakistan Navy on Sunday.
The exercise was aimed at validating and refining tactics, techniques and procedures to ensure robust defence of critical maritime infrastructure against asymmetric threats.
In a statement today, the PN’s spokesperson said that the exercise involved coordinated operations by the PN fleet units, Pakistan Marines, special service group (SSG) and naval aviation.
Scenarios were designed to simulate a range of sub-conventional threats including sabotage, infiltration and unconventional attacks to enhance inter-agency coordination, situational awareness and response capabilities, read the statement.
Commander Coast Rear Admiral Faisal Amin visited various operational setups at ports and harbours and witnessed live-action simulations carried out by participating units.
He appreciated the high level of preparedness and professional conduct demonstrated during the exercises, read the statement.
The development came amid tense relations between Pakistan and India after four days of fighting last month, which involved fighter jets, missiles, drones and artillery before a ceasefire was announced.
Earlier this week, India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, in a hostile statement, said that New Delhi would use the firepower of its navy in response to any future “aggression” by Pakistan.
“If Pakistan resorts to anything evil or unethical, it will, this time, face the firepower and ire of the Indian Navy,” Singh said on the aircraft carrier INS Vikrant off the coast of the western Indian state of Goa.
A spokesperson for Pakistan’s military referred Reuters to a May 12 statement, which said there would be a “comprehensive and decisive” response whenever Pakistan’s sovereignty was “threatened and territorial integrity violated”.
The latest fighting erupted after 26 people, mostly tourists, were killed in an April 22 attack in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).
New Delhi blamed the attack on Pakistan without offering any evidence. Pakistan rejected Indian allegations and called for holding an independent probe into the incident.
Pakistan’s armed forces, last month, launched a large-scale retaliatory military action, named “Operation Bunyan-um-Marsoos”, and targeted several Indian military targets across multiple regions.
The military action came in response to India’s unprovoked missiles and drone strikes on civilians and military installations in different parts of Pakistan.
Pakistan downed its six fighter jets, including three Rafale, and dozens of drones. After at least 87 hours, the war between the two nuclear-armed nations ended on May 10 with a ceasefire agreement brokered by the United States.
According to ISPR, a total of 53 individuals, including 13 personnel of the armed forces and 40 civilians, were martyred in Indian strikes during the recent military confrontation.
