KARACHI - The opening session of Pakistan Navy war game Shamsheer-e-Behr IV was held here Monday. Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gillani was the chief guest for the event. Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister underlined the significance of war games in military planning process and said that in a fast changing world of today, regular conduct of war games to evolve new concepts and doctrines is all the more important. The Prime Minister lauded the realistic stock taking, exhaustive analysis and objective decision making of the Force Commanders who earlier presented their detailed plans. On his arrival at the venue, the Prime Minister was received by Chief of the Naval Staff along with the key naval commanders. Vice Admiral Abbas Raza, Deputy Chief of Naval Staff Operations, then presented an overview of the war game outlining objective set forth and concepts to be tried. He particularly stressed on the significance of naval base at Gwadar for ensuring impregnable defence of motherland and relevance of Pakistan Navy under new and emerging challenges. He added that being a tri-service event with representation of relevant ministries, Shamsheer-e-Behr IV is the Flag ship war game of Pakistan Navy that is held biennially to try various concepts which are then validated in subsequent Navy-wide field exercise before being developed into naval strategy. The event was attended by large number of high raking Armed Forces officers besides civil bureaucrats and reps of ministries. Agencies adds: Prime Minister Gilani said the present government is making sincere and all-out efforts for attaining lasting peace through dialogue and negotiations, it is of equal importance that the armed forces maintain credible deterrence and remain prepared to thwart any aggression against the motherland. He said despite prevailing economic crunch, all needs and requirements of the Pakistani security forces would be fulfilled. He said he was pleased to know that Shamsheer-e-Behr series of war game had been instituted as a regular feature. He pointed out that importance of the war games needed no emphasis as they constituted an essential ingredient of military planning. The war games, Gilani further said, allowed the military commanders to take real stock of new imperatives on ground and undertake critical review of old doctrines and tactics. He said these exercises also provided a forum to develop new concepts of war fighting through extensive brain storming and meeting the existing and upcoming challenges. The Prime Minister said, As a self-respecting nation we consider no sacrifice too great to secure the ideals of freedom and prosperity of the people. He stated that in spite of resource constraints, the government gave priority to meet requirements of the armed forces. He said he was glad to note that the exercise Shamsheer-e-Behr IV had been designed on realistic settings and taking into account the emerging realities. He stated that support of the Pakistan Army and Pakistan Air Force for the maritime operations was well articulated in the war games. The Prime Minister was sure that the lessons learnt from the exercise would be taken note of and further refined to formulate an effective and responsive Naval strategy in the future. He said, We are all aware of the importance of the sea for the economic well being of a maritime nation. Gilani said this is also significant for Pakistan because our trade with the outside world is sea dependent. He said to promote sea trade in the country different projects to interlink the ports with major cities were in progress, adding that sea trade could play a key role in the economic progress of the country. He stated that Pakistan Navy was fully capable of safeguarding Pakistans maritime interests and territorial waters of the country. He also pointed towards its unique geo-strategic location, saying that Pakistan considered it an obligation to secure our area of responsibility from all sorts of threats. Gilani said the development of Gwadar Port and Coastal Highway and road network connecting the coastal cities would give impetus to the economic activities and process of development. The Prime Minister also said coastal highways were being constructed in the country to promote sea trade and the ports would be interconnected with the major cities in the country through roads networks. He assured the government would provide all resources required for safeguarding Pakistans maritime interests.