Bangladesh denies submarine deal with Pakistan
Dated 5/6/2006
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Dhaka: The Bangladesh government categorically denied Monday a report that it had received two old submarines from the Pakistan Navy as gifts, an official spokesman said.
The spokesman, quoting a statement from the Bangladesh Navy, said no deal was struck between the two countries on the submarines during Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's official visit to Pakistan from February 12-14 this year.
The spokesman was commenting on a website report from New Delhi that Pakistan had agreed to refurbish and repaint two of its old submarines and present them as a gift to its erstwhile province.
The Pakistani gift would have given the fledgling Bangladesh Navy its first undersea capabilities.
Bangladesh, formerly East Pakistan, seceded from Islamabad's rule through a bitter war in 1971 in which India also took part. Bangladesh and Pakistan, however, established diplomatic ties in 1974 and have built up regular economic and cultural relations between them.
