Pakistan choosing weapons over welfare of its people: Navy chief

NEW DELHI: Pakistan is choosing weapons over the welfare of its people despite its precarious economic condition, Admiral Dinesh Tripathi said on Monday, adding that India is tweaking its operational plans and strategy to tackle the expanding collusiveness between Islamabad and Beijing in the maritime domain after the land borders.
"We are keeping a watch on extra-regional forces in the IOR, including the PLA Navy, their warships and research vessels, and know what they are doing and where they are,” the Navy chief said.
“We are also aware of the surprising growth of the Pakistan Navy, which aims to become a 50-warship force. They have chosen weapons over the welfare of their people. So, good luck to them,” he said, adding that his force was fully prepared to ensure no country could harm India’s strategic interests in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).
China, with the world’s largest Navy with over 360 warships and submarines, has been assiduously increasing its “underwater domain awareness” in the IOR through its almost permanent deployment of survey and research ‘spy’ vessels in the region to map oceanographic and other data useful for navigation and submarine operations.
Concurrently, “many Pakistan Navy warships and submarines are being built with China’s support, showing that China is interested in making the Pakistan Navy stronger”, Admiral Tripathi said.
China has already delivered four Type 054A/P multi-role frigates to Pakistan, and eight Yuan-class diesel-electric submarines will now be delivered from 2025-26 onwards.
“These eight new submarines will add significant combat potential to the Pakistan Navy. We are fully aware of their capabilities. That is why we are tweaking our plans and concepts to negate any infringement of our interests. We are fully ready to take on any challenge,” Admiral Tripathi said.
While acknowledging that oceans are open to all nations, the Navy chief was clear that India will not tolerate any actions that undermines its security. “Our reading is that it (Chinese Navy) will manifest more in the Pacific Ocean, but we are keeping a watch to ensure that our interests in the IOR are not affected,” he added.