The Pakistan Navy on Tuesday formally received two modified P3C Orion aircraft acquired from the US.
Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Noman Bashir, was the chief guest at the ceremony held in Karachi. US Brigadier General Mike Nagata of the office of defence representative in Pakistan and the consul general of US in Karachi Stephens G. Fakan also attended the ceremony.
Speaking on the occasion, the Naval Chief termed this as a historic day on many accounts. He said with the induction of these aircraft the capability of Pakistan Navy and its Aviation Wing would be enhanced.
Admiral Noman Bashir said, “We have to contribute to make the areas that surround our country on land and the sea safe and secure and that we take this as our responsibility as well as moral obligation.”
He further pointed out that today’s capability would help us in furthering this very effort.
Admiral Bashir said that these fully modified aircraft are capable of undertaking the missions that they are designed for. He said the friendship of Pakistan and the US has been further cemented with the induction of the aircraft.
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US officials made Qureshi wait for hours
Islamabad : The Pakistani government’s big claims that it had easy access to senior American officials was exposed when foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi had to wait for hours to contact any of them.
Mr Qureshi had been trying to contact American Special Representative to Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke and secretary of state Hillary Clinton since Monday morning. However, he was denied early access to both till evening. They added that because of this reason, Mr Qureshi kept himself away from media persons until Monday evening. After he failed to contact Mr Holbrooke and Ms Clinton, Mr Qureshi contacted US ambassador to Pakistan Anne W. Patterson, and requested her to contact the Israeli administration for release of three Pakistanis, who were on board when the Israeli Army attacked. —ANI