A Pakistan Navy flotilla — frigate PNS Taimur, support ship PNS Aslat and Hangor-class submarine PNS/M Hangor — docked at Colombo Port on June 1 for a goodwill visit and replenishment call, alongside India’s amphibious landing ship INS Airavat which arrived the same day, EconomyNext reported.
The Sri Lanka Navy said the Pakistani task group is commanded by Captain Niamat Saeed Khan on PNS Taimur, Captain Nadir Mateen Afridi on PNS Aslat and Captain Uzair Farooq on the submarine PNS/M Hangor. Crew members are scheduled to tour several key locations across the country during the stay.
“The Pakistan naval units will engage in a Passage Exercise (PASSEX) with the Sri Lanka Navy off the west coast,” the Navy said. PASSEX drills typically involve communications, manoeuvring and basic interoperability serials and are short of a full bilateral exercise programme.
The Indian Navy’s INS Airavat — a 5,600-tonne Shardul-class landing ship under Commander IP Patil — is in port on an operational turnaround, the Sri Lanka Navy said earlier, delivering spares for Coast Guard vessel Suraksha and Navy items under an Indian grant. The Indian crew is scheduled to take part in “professionally enriching events and camaraderie-building programmes” with the Sri Lanka Navy and to visit historic and tourist sites.
The simultaneous presence of the two flotillas is unusual in profile: the two nuclear-armed neighbours fought a brief war in May 2025, and Sri Lanka has since worked to hold an even-handed line in the Indian Ocean. Defence Secretary Sampath Thuyacontha used a Colombo conference last week to reiterate Sri Lanka’s commitment to non-alignment and the Indian Ocean as a zone of peace, echoing the same message he carried to Moscow at the 14th International Security Meeting.
The Pakistan visit is the second naval port call by Islamabad to Colombo of the year after the April LION STAR V exercise with PNS Taimur and PNS Aslat, and adds the Hangor-class submarine to the deployment mix.
Source: EconomyNext.
