Pak navy to assume command of multinational naval coalition

Islamabad, July 16 (UNI) Pakistan will take over on August 1 the command of a multinational naval coalition patrolling waters around the Arabian Peninsula for four months.

The mandate of the multinational Coalition Maritime Campaign Plan's (CMCP's) Combined Task Force-150 is to curb terrorism, drug trafficking, human smuggling and to search vessels suspected of smuggling arms or material used for making nuclear weapons, local media reports said.

This would be for the second time that Pakistan would get the command of CTF-150.

The CTF-150 is one of the several naval units operating under the US-led maritime coalition that was formed as part of the Operation Enduring Freedom, Dawn newspaper reported.

The United States, Britain, France, Italy, Japan, Germany, Netherlands, Spain and Pakistan all contribute to the maritime component of Operation Enduring Freedom.

The mission oversees the Straits of Hormuz through which almost a quarter of the world's oil is transported from the Gulf.

While two other units handle the Gulf, CTF-150's 15 vessels also patrol an area that includes the Gulf of Oman, the Arabian Sea, the Red Sea and parts of the Indian Ocean.

UNI