The key person to safeguard the matters related to a Nation’s maritime interests is the Chief of the Naval Staff as per the constitution of Pakistan. Maritime means everything related to the sea. The meanings include “bordering on or living or characteristic of those near the sea”; “a maritime province”; “maritime farmers”; “maritime cultures”. The largest province of Pakistan is its Exclusive Economic Zone containing rich resources.
But what is relevant to us is that all the human resources come from the people living ashore or connected to countries with the sea. Hence the seafarers, the fishermen and navigators at sea. The divers, the submariners, the guardians of the coast and search and rescue experts at sea are trained and manage the maritime requirement. Likewise, water sports such as sailing, rowing, canoeing, water skiing and diving are maritime activities that produce experts, semi-trained personnel and workers to earn bread and butter. As stated in Surat Jasia, “Allah subjugated the sea for you to ply ships at sea with the permission of Allah and so that you can find the bounties and so that you may be thank full to Allah.”
Bureaucratic matters can never be solved in the courts; they can only be ironed out through dialogue and reinforcements. This is the real lesson for our government departments, functionaries, and other pillars of the state.
Hazrat Usman Bin Affan (R.A) was the initiator of the Muslim Navy to explore the marine resources for the Muslim Ummah. Since then, Muslim countries’ navies have remained the torchbearers for exploring the sea-based bounties worldwide. Similarly the Pakistan Navy continues to play its role in the maritime policies of the country. One such initiative that was taken way back some 30 years ago was to establish a facility to develop water sports for the promotion of sailing, canoeing, rowing and diving. The facility was also required to provide in-date divers to search and rescue the flood victims in nearby areas.
To promote interest in sports, it was proposed to establish an infrastructure such as a club to enable a good environment. Water sports are expensive. Only the wealthy elite can afford to spend money to purchase yachts, boats and so on. The first Asian Gold Medallist in sailing was Mr Bahram D Avari, the owner of the Avari hotels. Later on, the navy officers Munir Sadiq and Mamoon Sadiq represented Pakistan in Olympics. With this background and with limited resources, Pakistan Navy continues to provide water sports facilities in Karachi and now in Islamabad. In neighbouring India, Bhopal and Hyderabad are located inland, but their sailing clubs are run and managed by their Navy. A broad-based intake for athletes can only bring laurels for Pakistan.
Lack of maritime knowledge and awareness about the true potential of a nation is inhibiting progress and taking us back to old times, though not the stone ages as threatened by an American official at the time of the invasion of Afghanistan. Pollution control is where the Navy built a dirty water treatment plant known as Reed Bed Facility. These are small tanks and stones assembled to allow passage of washing water and convert it to pure, clean water through plants and rocks. Any facility with this plant does not pollute water, such as dam waters. The government authorities and civilian organizations can benefit from this expertise to avoid pollution of sweet and sour waters alike. All the government bureaucratic departments can facilitate each other from such expertise and knowledge. Ignorance is also called a blessing because Hazrat Ali (R.A) said that if you don’t know about a sure thing, don’t pass a ruling on it, instead acknowledge your ignorance and learn it.
A common-sense question is how a sailing club constructed on government land by a government department propagates national maritime interests as chartered in the constitution of Pakistan, and that too from its resources, can be a matter of criminal offence? It is only a matter of ignorance, communication gap, or so-called conspiracy against the pillar of a state by another state organization. The most exciting thing in this puzzle is that all involved are state functionaries stating or claiming to be working in the state’s best interest. The essential requirement is to work in unison to achieve the ultimate objective and align as a unified entity. Sometimes it happens that the same thing is seen with a different perspective despite meeting the requirements of the differing parties. A case in point is the Margalla golf club, which is construed as a threat to Margalla National Park. The question is whether the golf club reorganized the park in an organized natural habitat that retains its originality and provides health and leisure facilities to the citizens.
In the case of Islamabad, where most foreign visitors and diplomats reside, it includes value addition to our country. No public funds were used to convert these green pastures from herbs and bushes to nicely cut greens and organized trees. The Karachi golf club is called the lung of Karachi as it provides fresh air to the residents of the city free of cost.
Bureaucratic matters can never be solved in the courts; they can only be ironed out through dialogue and reinforcements. This is the real lesson for our government departments, functionaries, and other pillars of the state.
