An overview of the maritime piracy issues in Pakistan: the way forward in the light of the best international practices.

Abstract

Pakistan and china are developing deeper economic and business partnership ties especially with the advent of CPEC and MSR. These are projects which will surely have global economic impacts that will bring fruit to the whole region, especially the underdeveloped South Asian countries. However, it is pertinent to mention here that the success of these pivotal projects is dependent upon the security from onshore and offshore threats. The crime of maritime piracy is one of such crime that is gone long unchecked and without any prosecution at the international or even domestic level except a handful of island or coastal states. Until the advent of the UNCLOS there was a considerable gap in the legal arena which had affected the whole sea order. There are areas so unprotected and dangerous i.e., Somalian waters and Gulf of Aden., that the states were simply asked to avoid such areas and take a longer route to ship their containers or move vessels be it military or civilian. The reasons for this extent of danger and its increase in intensity everyday was due to the fact that it was an important sea route. It is safe to assume that wherever there is more sea trade and port activity, the rise in maritime piracy has also seen a great and unfettered rise. Since Pakistan is a coastal state and with the projects like CPEC there is a chance of more and more pirate activity, it is pertinent to ensure and overcome the legal and administrative issues pertaining to the eradication and curbing of the piracy and all pirate activities. The current legal regime (international as well as Pakistan’s) is appropriate, but it falls short on various procedural and practical aspects, i.e., from the capturing to the trial and eventual sentencing. The international regime has left these aspects up to the domestic states which requires uniformity in order to further the cause and mandate of UNCLOS.