Inside Jinnah Naval Base Ormara: Diary of an 'embedded' journalist

[Zahoor Raja-Jani]

DAY 1
0630hrs: I feel it is a cardinal sin of the highest order to ask a journalist to report for duty at 7am.

Suffice it to say, I hadn’t woken this early in several months. After barely two hours of sleep following an intense shift at work, I was hoping to catch the winter sun but was instead greeted with pitch darkness.

The PNS Akram jetty near Gwadar port manned by Pak Marines and Naval SSG.

I was asked to report at Naval Headquarters Karachi at day break. Running late, I didn’t reach the Naval HQ until a little after 8:00am. The journalist troupe had already left for the Naval airbase but luckily arrangements were hastily made to take me to PNS Mehran.

0830hrs: The Navy’s newly-commissioned ATR transport aircraft was fuelled and ready to take off. I was the last civilian to board the plane.

When the ATR was airborne, it afforded all of us passengers a misty aerial view of Karachi. The flying experience was luxurious compared to the Hercules C-130, a rough and rowdy beast belonging to the Air Force.

With comfortable seats and a spacious aisle, the ATR is nothing short of a commercial passenger jet. The Navy had purchased the ATRs two years ago, a crew member told us.

"They need certain modifications and upgrading after which they will be able to conduct sea surveillance."

The hour-long flight from Karachi to Pasni was punctuated with tea, announcements and intervals.

Pak Marines' battalion provides security to Gwadar port.
0930hrs: We had to land in Pasni because the Gwadar airport was closed for maintenance. It was like landing in absolute wilderness: Balochistan’s coastal belt is filled with sand dunes and dusty planes.

We were then transported to the Naval Officers’ Mess, also known as the wardroom, to "freshen up" before the two-hour bus ride to Gwadar.

Despite the dismal dunes of Pasni, the lavatory at our disposal was lavish.

At this point, Gwadar was still 45km away as suggested by a milestone along the coastal highway.

The Gwadar port.
The single-lane highway is a marvel. An economic lifeline for local residents and businesses, it provides access to the coastal belt from other cities and has brightened prospects for tourism in the province — as is evident from the number of Karachiites who visit Balochistan’s beaches.

1200hrs: Landing in Gwadar was nothing short of a surprise, which is an underdeveloped, dusty coastal town.

Contrary to my expectations, Gwadar — which is the main block of the ambitious China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project — is yet to benefit from the development propagated through paid media content.

The deep blue sea near Gwadar.
The Gwadar port is far from operational. I noticed there is no adequate multi-lane road leading to the port. The best way to access it is through a narrow, crowded market where traffic jams are regular features.

As we navigated our way through the city, our liaison officer on the trip pointed towards a superstore (poorly-stocked by Karachi standards) and said, "This is the best shop we have in Gwadar."

The picture of Gwadar’s development was pretty much complete for me after this.

Unfortunately, I still had to attend a high-level briefing on this very subject later that day.

1230hrs: The Naval Mess in Gwadar, which sits atop a hill a few hundred feet above sea level, lives up to national military standards.

The Gwadar port and the beach make for breathtaking sights when viewed from the top of the cliff.

We were served Hi-Tea upon arrival and then asked to gulp it down because the briefing had started.

It was difficult to choose between a hard-earned cup of tea after a long road trip and a briefing on the already-evident "development" in Gwadar. I took my cup of tea to the briefing room.

 

[Zahoor Raja-Jani]

A view of the Gwadar port from the sea.
The commanding officer of naval unit PNS Akram in Gwadar, Commander Atif, shared the development tasks taken up by the Navy in the area, including maintenance of law and order and provision of basic healthcare and education facilities to the locals.

"...And doing that free of cost, without any charges," Atif was quick to add.

The Navy also creates job opportunities for locals and actively engages them in the development of this area, Commander Atif said.

1330hrs: The Navy men took us on a bumpy speedboat ride to show us the posts they man and patrol to secure the Gwadar port from the sea side. For this purpose, they have deployed the 3rd Marine Battalion in Gwadar.

Certain units of the battalion have been specifically tasked to provide security to Chinese engineers.

1500hrs: A lavish three-course meal followed the choppy boat ride. It brought my metabolism back to normal.

So far, one thing was pretty obvious: The day wasn't planned keeping journalists in mind — a few of whom were past retirement age. It favoured the men in uniform who are accustomed to such scenarios and trained accordingly.

A naval ship docked at the Gwadar port.
No one seemed to have calculated the small detail that if nearly 50 journalists were to "freshen up" at a stopover, it would take them an hour to use the lavatory if you allocated everyone 3-4 minutes each.

Granted that everyone won’t go every time but 30 minutes would still be needed to move on from the stop.

“We were getting late and needed to rush” was the call of the day.

To emphasise their point, the navy guys played an antic, saying the “airfield at Pasni didn’t have lights on its runway thus making it impossible for the aircraft to take off after sunset. So we needed to hurry.”

I feel sorry for those who bought this.

1600hrs: We were served evening tea at the marine unit next to the Bahria Model School, one of the initiatives taken by the Navy to provide education to local children.

1700hrs: We were finally taken to the much-touted, but currently non-operational, Gwadar port.

The trade activities at Gwadar port seemed to have stalled or at least that’s what I observed given the rusty wheels on cranes at the docks. My observation was later confirmed by officials present at the port.

It was touch-and-go for us at the port. The sun was setting and we had to say our goodbyes in haste.

1900hrs: The airfield in Pasni was well-lit. The take-off at the end of our tiring day was smooth.

I'll have you know that Karachi at night is mesmerising when seen through an airplane window.

On board PNS Zulfiquar: Diary of an 'embedded' journalist

 

[Zahoor Raja-Jani]

Day 2

0700hrs: Today I made it on time. It was still dark and foggy outside.

The day’s plan was slightly different from yesterday’s — instead of an aircraft, there was a destroyer ship waiting for us at Karachi’s naval dockyard, armed, fuelled and ready to sail. But before that, Commander Pakistan Fleet (COMPAK) Vice Admiral Arifullah Hussaini briefed us at the Naval tactical training school about the maritime force’s ventures and adventures.

On our way to the naval dockyard, the discussion turned towards the infamous hijacking of a destroyer by an allegedly defecting naval officer.

The back and forth became amusing when senior journalists turned to the naval officers to verify the stories they had heard — the uneasiness on the officer’s face was obvious. He tried covering it up with a forced smile, until a second officer spoke up, saying they had little knowledge of the incident as it was a matter of national security.

Hearing this, the journalists laughed and continued hypothesising about what might have happened on that fateful night.

Good times.

A sailor mans a post on PNS Zulfiquar.

0900hrs: At the tactical school, Vice Admiral Hussaini spoke of the Navy’s professional abilities to safeguard the country’s trade ventures at sea.

He said the Pakistan Navy’s "balanced fleet" was capable of guarding trade via sea routes and along the coastal belt.

"Convey my message to my people and the government. You strengthen the CPEC, we are here to protect you," he told us.

We boarded PNS Zulfiquar, a part of the Navy’s newly-acquired arsenal in its quest to maintain dominance and conduct sea surveillance. The frigate is armed with surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missiles and also has torpedoes to engage and destroy enemy submarines.

In short, it is a complete package of maneuverability and battle-readiness when it comes to guarding the country’s coastline. We are all quite impressed.

The Radar systems mounted on the F-22P frigate PNS Zulfiquar.

1100hrs: The Navy had arranged a set of exercises to demonstrate their alertness and skill in the face of external threats.

These included a mock attack on PNS Zulfiquar by boat which, according to the officers on deck, was successfully thwarted as the approaching "enemy vessel" was "splashed" — Navy lingo for sinking the boat.

The next demonstration featured a Sea King helicopter and a group of commandos from the Naval Special Services Group.

The commandos dropped from the hovering chopper on to the ship’s flight deck and moved rapidly to capture the "human traffickers" on the ship.

The officers on deck again lauded the successful operation, stating that all targets were "neutralised".

Sea King helicopter and Naval SSG boat make approach towards PNS Zulfiquar.

1300hrs: Lunch was arranged inside the ship’s hangar; a three-course meal which had been prepared on the ship.

But a small discussion with the officers on deck revealed that they are not served a meal of this standard even once during their usual three-month long stay on board.

"Usually we have rice and lentils for days," said the lieutenant who I am not naming — because I don’t want to deprive him of getting some good food on board.

A view of Helicopter Visit, Board, Search and Seizure (HVBSS) demonstration.

Following lunch, more than half of the journalist troupe hit the wardroom. Some had been feeling sea sick since the excursion started, and now a full stomach was compounding their drowsiness.

Others were fatigued after climbing up and down the comfortless ladders, shuttling between the different decks of the frigate.

This gave me time to interact with the naval officers manning the decks, who had their own stories to tell — stories far removed from the general perception we have of our armed forces personnel.

SSG-Navy commandos drop down on the deck to perform a HVBSS demonstration.

They told me about not being able to see their families for months, being unable to take part in any events taking place back home. An officer said he wasn’t getting married despite family pressure because he thought it unjust for his would-be-wife to stay alone at home, while he was at sea for months at a time.

There were officers who had missed the births of their children.

But the most disturbing narratives were of those who missed their parents’ funerals and now carried that burden with them.

These men are brave, to say the least. They don’t complain about the rigours of their job, embracing their responsibilities with open arms and smiling faces.

All they ask is that people remember them not only for taking a lion’s share of the budget, but also for giving up their families and risking their lives for their people.

A Naval SSG commando.

1600hrs: The ship was making its way back to the port.

Karachi was not too far and the Arabian Sea was slowly losing its intense blue colour. Seen from the sea, Karachi looks like a smudge of dark smoke on an otherwise clear horizon.

The tips of the gigantic cranes at Karachi port appeared slowly, followed by high-rise buildings stretching up out of the commercial hub.

As we entered the port, officers and sailors on board the ship saluted another ship, fuelled and ready to sail at the docks.

A female naval officer explained that as it was a commissioned ship, they saluted it.

I’m glad the Air Force and Army men didn’t "commission" their assets because it would have looked so odd — uniformed men saluting aircraft flying above or tanks marching on the highway.

Karachi looks like a smudge of dark smoke on an otherwise clear horizon.

With PNS Zulfiquar safely docked, the journalists who had gone into hibernation started to emerge.

As our day on board the naval frigate came to an end, and we were disembarking, we met an officer who accompanied us on the trip.

I asked, "Where have you been?", since the officer had boarded the ship but was nowhere to be seen after that.

The reply: "I was sleeping in the cabin since I get sea sick." A sea sick naval officer, I mused, just irony or an oxymoron?

 

[Zahoor Raja-Jani]

DAY 3
0700hrs: Today, we arrive in time to board an ATR transport aircraft, this time Ormara-bound, where the navy has established its secondary headquarters. Ormara is a half-hour flight from Karachi. Hence, the crew skips tea. From boarding the aircraft to the pilot's briefing on turbulence, the proceedings are the same as the first day.

The sea near Ormara is clear unlike Karachi's which is hazardous for natural habitats.


We land in the middle of nowhere in Ormara. The only structure we glimpse is the air movement building.

The façade of the building reads, "Ormara Naval Air Base", but the inscription on the backside of the same building reads, "Ormara Air Port".

This incongruity seems a reflection of the development in Balochistan — where both the armed forces and the civil administration claim to develop the province but seem to be repeating the same thing over and over again with minor cosmetic changes.

Two sides of the same building.


1000hrs: Jinnah Naval Base (JNB) Ormara is the Navy’s prized possession — their long-term investment planning.

Located 350km from Karachi and 250km from Gwadar, JNB is a natural overwatch of the sea route — the primary point for enforcing maritime security.

Unlike Gwadar or Karachi, which harbour commercial activities, the Jinnah base only serves the purpose of defence.

The naval base is built at the foot of a cliff, giving it a natural camouflage, and providing the Navy with cover and rapid-strike abilities.

Visible from an airplane above, the 1,700 foot-high cliff has a distinct hammer-like appearance as it is surrounded by the sea on three sides. The men in the Navy call it "the hammerhead" and Jinnah Naval Base makes the best use of this natural camouflage.

A view of Ormara from the top of RDS Mianwali.


1300hrs: Our schedule in Ormara is hectic. We are told that we are in a race against time and would have to depart for Karachi early because the connecting flight from there would take Islamabad-based journalists back to the capital.

We end up running and shuttling from one building to another.

A smartly turned-out parade at Cadet College Ormara. The college has inducted three batches after its establishment in 2012.


The buildings that we visit include Ormara Cadet College, Ormara Model School and the PNS Darman Jah Hospital.

It is only at the hospital that I sit down to catch my breath — first, because I'm tired of running, and second, because a pungent smell is making me queasy and nostalgic all at once. Hospitals have a unique odour. While I can't quite describe the smell, it's the same in practically every hospital.

An official tells me that nearly 200 locals visit the hospital daily for check-ups, out of whom 10 are admitted on average.

Most of the students at Cadet College Ormara are locals.


"Darman Jah" is a Balochi word which means "the place of healing". Sitting there, I meet a local Chacha Khuda Baksh, who has come to see a doctor. A retired police havaldar, he has been living in the area for years.

The Navy provides free medical facilities to locals, and Chacha Khuda Baksh is there to avail it like many others.

He appreciates the Navy’s efforts to provide locals with facilities they have never dreamt of.

PNS Darman Jah provides free medical facilities to locals in Ormara.


While we converse, I notice that Khuda Baksh has a prescription in his hand, which means that his check-up is over and he is waiting to get medicines. But this process has been halted due to our "high-profile visit".

I assure him that we are already in a hurry and would be leaving shortly, after which he would be able to get his medicines from the store.

Hearing this, he cracks up and hugs me, saying: "you are our guest here, I can wait the whole day for you."

It strikes me that Pakistanis are all pretty much the same everywhere — caring and hospitable.

On that note, I say goodbye to Chacha Khuda Baksh and rush towards the vehicle where everyone is waiting.

Chacha Khuda Baksh, a retired police Havaldar, has been living in Ormara for years.


1500hrs: In Ormara everything is in the "dorray chal" mode — even lunch.

We have five-minute smoke breaks and brief ten-minute pitstops throughout the day. Things become interesting when the commanding officer at Ormara asks us to "wind up" our lunch in five minutes.

It's past me how one can "wind up" their lunch in five minutes. But heeding the officer, we gulp down our food quickly.

 

[Zahoor Raja-Jani]

A school run by the Navy in Ormara provides equal opportunities of quality education to local children.


As we run back to our plane bound for Karachi, we notice two packed boxes being loaded into the aircraft.

A fellow journalist jokingly asks the officers present there, "Are you guys loading mangoes into the aircraft?"

For a moment, they don’t grasp the question. But when they do, there is a burst of laughter. After all, mangoes have been charged with bringing down an aircraft in the past.

The treacherous road towards the top of Hammerhead, RDS Mianwali.


1700hrs: The flight back to Karachi marks the end of our three-day training (read: trip) aimed at highlighting development projects taken up by the navy and showcasing their combat-readiness and ability to counter external threats.

My takeaway from the trip is that it's not easy for the civilian government to keep up with the pace of the military establishment. Both parties need to realise this difference in operations and respect it.

It is a procedural requirement for the military to furnish all cantonments they build with facilities — a practice the civil establishment is lagging behind in.

The military is undoubtedly making efforts to provide locals living near their settlements with the basic necessities of life. By doing so, it is extending a favour to the civil administration and this by no means relieves the civilian establishment from performing its job or placating people's miseries.

What should however be clear to everyone is that the military's developmental works can only bring long-term sustainability if the civil administration has a role to play in it.

When the armed forces decide to develop a place, they leave no stone unturned.


A troupe of 50 journalists, courtesy of the Naval Directorate of Public Relations, were taken on a trip to visit the Navy installations along Balochistan’s coastal belt in Gwadar and Pasni.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1243078/inside-jinnah-naval-base-ormara-diary-of-an-embedded-journalist

 

[Talha Asif]

This guy in hurry only for tea & lunch

 

[Imtiaz_Sarwar]

Ormara is the future of Naval defence. While Karachi and Gwadar will mostly carry out commercial work, Ormara is purely for defence purposes. We should try to make it the best naval base in the world.

 

[Certain Somebody]

Ormara is the future of Naval defence. While Karachi and Gwadar will mostly carry out commercial work, Ormara is purely for defence purposes. We should try to make it the best naval base in the world.

But don't you think it's too far away from Gwadar, which should be our main focus of defending/patrolling?

 

[Imtiaz_Sarwar]

But don't you think it's too far away from Gwadar, which should be our main focus of defending/patrolling?

Ormara is in the center of our sea coast. Almost equidistant from both Karachi and Gwadar. Both Gwadar and Karachi will haver some defence facilities but Ormara will be the main naval base. I believe our national defence planners made a very wise decision to build Ormara as the main naval base.