A critical analysis of piracy threat in new maritime silk route: The way forward under the light of international practice and legal regime

Abstract

Pakistan and China are developing deeper economic and business partnership ties especially with the advent of CPEC and MSR. These are projects that will surely have global economic impacts that will benefit the whole region, especially the underdeveloped South Asian countries. However, it is important to note that the success of these critical projects is dependent on security from both 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 affected the whole sea order. There are areas so unprotected and dangerous, i.e., Somalian waters and the 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 they military or civilian. The reasons for this extent of danger and its increase in intensity every day were due to the fact that it was an important sea route. It's safe to say that where there is more sea trade and port activity, there has also been a big and unchecked rise in maritime piracy. Since Pakistan is a coastal state, and with 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 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 require uniformity in order to further the cause and mandate of UNCLOS.