A senior official of the Pakistan Navy said that the service is considering deploying its newest submarine to the Bay of Bengal.
Commodore Omer Farooq said that plans for the recently delivered diesel-electric submarine PNS Hangor will entail deployment to the bay, which has seen only minimal Pakistan Navy activity since the end of the country's 1971 war with India.
Farooq remarked that the introduction of Hangor and her seven sisters would enable Pakistan to maintain a presence in the bay.
Farooq issued those statements in Sri Lanka during a recent stopover while en route to Pakistan. At the time, the commodore was in command of the Pakistan Navy flotilla that was escorting Hangor to home waters after having earlier departed China where she was built.
India is currently the only country operating with a significant naval presence in the Bay of Bengal. The region, as well as the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, falls within the area of responsibility of India's Eastern Naval Command.
