KOLKATA: Following a US warship, a Pakistani warship has docked in Bangladesh after passing through the Bay of Bengal on India’s eastern coast. This has raised concerns in New Delhi’s defense and diplomatic establishment. After 54 years since India freed her eastern neighbor, then known as East Pakistan, from the terrible rule of her western neighbor in a war on December 16, 1971, the Pakistan Navy ship “PNS Saif” anchored at Chittagong Port in Bangladesh on Saturday as part of a “four-day goodwill visit.”
It’s interesting to note that Admiral Naveed Ashraf, the chief of the Pakistan Navy, is also on a four-day tour in Bangladesh. The development occurs at a time when Bangladesh, under an interim government headed by Nobel laureate Mohammad Yunus, is quickly mending her relations with Pakistan while Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his cabinet colleagues, and their party leaders are celebrating the military victory in Operation Sindoor against Pakistan.
The F-22P Zulfiquar Class missile frigate PNS Saif (FFG-253) is located in Karachi and was constructed in China. In 2010, the Pakistan Navy commissioned it. “On November 8, Pakistan Navy Ship PNS SAIF, commanded by Captain Shujaat Abbas Raja, arrived at Chattogram Port,” the Bangladesh Navy wrote on Facebook. Commander Chattogram Naval Area welcomed the ship with open arms upon its arrival.
“Senior officers of the Bangladesh Navy and representatives from the Pakistani Embassy in Bangladesh were also present at the welcoming ceremony,” the statement continued. The Bangladesh Navy Ship BNS Shadhinota had earlier ceremoniously welcomed the ship as it entered Bangladeshi seas. The amicable ties between the Bangladeshi and Pakistani navies are anticipated to be further strengthened by this visit. The USS Fitzgerald, an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer in the US Navy, berthed at Chittagong Port on a three-day goodwill visit exactly one month ago.
The first Pakistani warship to visit Chittagong in fifty-four years
